UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,     AN  DIEGO 


II I  III  1 1  III  II II 

3  182201893  1212 


GRANT,  THE  MAN 
OF  MYSTERY 


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COL.  NICHOLAS  SMITH 


LIBRARY    I 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

CALIFORNIA 

SAN  DIEGO       i 


NIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA      AN  DIEG 
I       I     I  I     I   I     I   I  II 


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182201893  1212 


THE  UNIVERSITY  LfBRAJtf 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SAN  DiEQO 

LA  JOLLA,  CAUfORNIA 


GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 


GRANT   IX    NOVEMBER,    1879. 
[Photo  by  Brand  of  Chicago.] 


Grant,  the  Man  of 
Mystery 


BY 

COLONEL  NICHOLAS  SMITH 

Author  of  "Our  Nation's  Flag  in  Huioru  and  Incident,"  "Stories  of 
Great  National  Songs,"  etc. 


MILWAUKEE 
THE  YOUNG  CHURCHMAN  CO. 

1909 


COPYEIGHT  BY 

THE  YOUNG  CHURCHMAN  CO. 
1909 


DEDICATED  TO  THE  MEMORY  OF 
ULYSSES  S.  GRANT.  AND  TO  THE 
SOLDIERS  AND  SAILORS  OF  THE 
GRAND  ARMY  OF  THE  REPUBLIC. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

GENERAL  GRANT  IN  NOVEMBER,  1879  FRONTISPIECE 

GRANT  AS  BRIGADIER  GENERAL  -  -  -  Between  Pages  82-83 
SHOWING  COURSE  THE  VESSELS  TOOK  IN 

RUNNING  BLOCKADE  AT  VICKSBURG  -  "  "  140-141 
GENERAL  GRANT  WHEN  HE  RECEIVED  HIS 

COMMISSION  AS  LIEUT.-GENERAL  -  "  "  192-193 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN "  "  192-193 

GENERAL  GRANT  IN  THE  WILDERNESS 

CAMPAIGN  "  "  234-235 

THE  SURRENDER  AT  APPOMATTOX  -  -  -  "  "  320-321 
THE  BIRTHPLACE  AND  THE  FINAL  RESTING 

PLACE  OF  GENERAL  GRANT        ..."  «  376-377 


CONTENTS 

I. — TRUTH  is  STRANGER  THAN  FICTION 1 

A  Crisis  Befalls  the  Land — He  is  Equal  to  the  Occa- 
sion— It  is  of  Grant — Washington,  Lincoln,  Grant. 

II. — BIRTH   AND   BOYHOOD 10 

Date  of  General  Grant's  Birth — His  Parents  Move 
to  Point  Pleasant — Boyhood  Spent  on  a  Farm — 
Sixteen  Years  at  Georgetown. 

III. — THE  DOOR  TO  WEST  POINT  is  OPEN    ...    -      15 

Appointment  to  West  Point — No  Love  for  Military 
Life. 

IV.— THE  WEST  POINT  CADET 21 

Reported  at  West  Point — Sherman  was  a  Cadet  at 
the  time — Was  Highly  Esteemed  at  the  Academy 
— He  was  Never  an  Enthusiast. 

V. — ANECDOTES,  PROPHECY,  AND  GRADUATION    -    -    -      27 

Excelled  In  Mathematics  and  Horsemanship — Leap- 
ing the  Bar — General  Fry's  Description  of  Grant's 
Riding  Ability — Graduated  in  the  Summer  of 
1843 — Tributes  to  his  Ability. 

VI. — IN    THE    MEXICAN    WAR 32 

He  Preferred  the  Cavalry — Assigned  to  the  Fourth 
Infantry — Preferred  a  Professorship  of  Mathe- 
matics— Commissioned  Second  Lieutenant,  Septem- 
ber, 1845 — His  First  Battle  at  Palo  Alto,  May  8, 
1846— Appointed  Quartermaster. 

VII. — A    FIGHTING    QUARTERMASTER 37 

The  Battle  of  Monterey — A  Dangerous  Ride — The 
Battle  of  Cerro  Gordo — McClellan,  Lee,  and  Beau- 
regard  were  in  the  Battle — A  Howitzer  Carried 
to  the  Bell  Tower — Made  First  Lieutenant,  for 
Bravery  at  Molino  Del  Key. 


x  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

VIII. — LIEUTENANT  BECOMES  A  BENEDICT 43 

Marriage  August  22,  1848 — Assigned  to  Sackett's 
Harbor — To  Detroit,  1849 — Birth  of  Frederick 
Dent  Grant,  May  30,  1849 — Ordered  to  the  Pacific 
Coast  by  Way  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama. 

IX. — COAST  LIFE — "THE  PARTING  OF  THE  WAY"    -    -      48 

Post  Quartermaster  at  Fort  Vancouver — Promoted 
to  Captain  in  September,  1853 — Resigned  from  the 
Army,  April  11,  1854 — Extract  from  Captain  Rich- 
ard Ogden's  Journal — Meets  Captain  Buckner  in 
New  York — Returns  to  his  Parents'  Home  in  Ohio. 

X. — AN  UNSUCCESSFUL  FARMER 55 

Grant  a  Private  Citizen — Settles  on  a  Farm — Builds 
a  Log  House — In  the  Autumn  of  1858  Gives  up 
Farming — Anecdote  by  General  Porter — Interest- 
ing Footnote. 

XL — HE  FAILS  TO  SELL  REAL  ESTATE 58 

Forms  a  Co-partnership  In  Real  Estate  Business — 
The  World  Appeared  to  Have  Turned  Against 
Him — Applies  for  Position  as  County  Engineer  of 
St.  Louis  County. 

XII. — THE  CAPTAIN  IN  THE  LEATHER  TRADE    -    -    -      63 

Becomes  Clerk  in  a  Leather  Store  at  Galena — Be- 
ginning of  the  Author's  Acquaintance  with  Grant — 
Mrs.  Grant's  Faith  in  Her  Husband — Collects  a 
Debt. 

XIII. — PROMPT  RESPONSE  TO  THE  NATION'S  CALL    -    -      70 

The  Firing  of  Fort  Sumter — Presiding  at  War  Meet- 
Ing — Calls  on  Gov.  Yates  at  Springfield — Made  a 
Poor  Impression  on  the  Governor — Failure  to  get 
a  Command — Depression  of  Spirits — Appointed 
Colonel  of  the  Twenty-first  Illinois — The  Silent, 
Mysterious  Man  Has  Mastered  Fate. 

XIV. — MARCHING   TO    THE    FRONT    -    - 79 

Ordered  to  Take  his  Regiment  to  Quincy — Marched 
his  Regiment  One  Hundred  Miles — Grant  Made 
History  Rapidly — Appointed  Brigadier  General. 

XV. — GRANT'S    FIRST   BATTLE    -    - 85 

General  Fremont  in  Missouri — The  Battle  of  Bel- 
mont — A  Narrow  Escape. 

XVI. — THE  COUNTRY  is  ELECTRIFIED 90 

General  Grant's  Jurisdiction  Enlarged — The  Fall  of 
Fort  Henry — Moves  Against  Ft.  Donelson — "I 
Propose  to  Move  Immediately  Upon  Your  Works" 
— The  Capture  of  Ft.  Donelson — Friendship 
Formed  Between  Sherman  and  Grant — Grant's 
Smoking  Habit. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  xi 

XVII. — HALLECK  SEEKS  GRANT'S  DEBASEMENT    -    -    -    102 

Meets  General  Buell  at  Nashville — Treachery  of  a 
Telegraph  Operator — Halleck's  Charge  Against 
Grant — Grant's  Great  Patience — Relieved  of  his 
Command — Unhappy  Incidents — Grant  Restored 
to  his  Command — Interesting  Letter  to  Mrs.  Grant. 

XVIII.— SHILOH   A  VICTORY 110 

Gathering  Forces  at  Pittsburgh  Landing — White- 
law  Reid's  Testimony— General  Grant  Suffered 
from  Bruised  Ankle — The  Battle  of  Monday — 
The  Loss  In  Killed  and  Wounded. 

XIX. — AFTER  THE  BATTLE    -    - 122 

General  Order  Congratulating  the  Troops — Clamor 
for  Grant's  Removal — Col.  McClure  Appeals  to 
Remove  Grant — Lincoln  Saved  Grant — Becomes 
Heartsick  Under  Halleck's  Persecution. 

XX. — KESUMING  COMMAND  AND  WINNING  BATTLES    -    129 

Headquarters  at  Memphis — Halleck  Ordered  to 
Washington — Battle  of  luka— -Battle  of  Corinth 
Opens. 

XXT. — GRANT  AND  THE   CONTRABANDS 132 

Plan  for  the  Capture  of  Vicksburg — Chaplain 
Eaton  Appointed  in  Charge  of  "Contrabands." 

XXII. — THE  GREATEST  SIEGE  IN  HISTORY    -    -    -    -    136 

Surrender  of  Holly  Springs  to  the  Confederates — 
Sherman's  Attack  at  Chickasaw  Bluffs — Lin- 
coln's Faith  in  Grant — Preparing  to  Run  the 
Blockade. 

XXIII. — THE  WONDERS  OF  THE  INVESTMENT  OF  VICKS- 
BURG     152 

Movement  on  Vicksburg — Battle  of  Port  Gibson — 
McPherson's  Victory  at  Raymond — McClernand 
Relieved  of  Command — Grant's  Astonishing 
Equipose  —  Pemberton's  Surrender  —  Lincoln's 
Letter  to  Grant. 

XXIV. — CHICKAMAUGA  is  AVENGED  AT  CHATTANOOGA    -    168 

Commissioned  a  Major  General — Severely  Injured 
in  New  Orleans — Lincoln's  and  Stanton's  Con- 
fidence in  Grant — Lame  and  Feeble,  he  Hastens 
to  Chattanooga — The  Battle  of  Chattanooga — 
Hooker  on  Lookout  Mountain. 

XXV. — PUBLIC  HONORS  COME  TO  GRANT  FOR  BATTLES    185 

Longstreet  Driven  from  Tennessee — Dispatch  from 
Lincoln — Goes  to  St.  Louis. 


xii  GRAXT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

XXVI. — GRANT  COMMANDS  THE  ARMIES  OF  THE  UNION    190 

Summary  of  His  Victories — "U.  S.  Grant  and  Son, 
Galena,  111." — Meets  Lincoln— Commissioned 
Lieutenant  General,  May  9th — Leaves  Washing- 
ton for  Nashville. 

XXVII.— PREPARING  TO  FIGHT  LEE 200 

Letter  to  Sherman — Sherman's  Noble  Reply — 
Anecdote  of  Stanton  and  Lincoln — Makes 
Headquarters  at  Culpepper — Meets  General 
Meade — Charming  Letter  from  Lincoln — 
Grant's  Reply. 

XXVIII. — THE  DESPERATE  FIGHT  IN  THE  WILDERNESS  -    213 

"All  Quiet  Along  the  Potomac"  now  Obsolete — 
The  Struggle  in  the  Wilderness. 

XXIX. — THE  RACE  TO  SPOTTSYLVANIA — THE  BATTLE    225 

Loss  of  Spottsylvania — Desperate  Battle — Grant 
was  an  Inspiring  Force  to  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac — Lee  Falling  Back  and  Grant  Ad- 
vancing. 


XXX. — THE  DEADLY  ASSAULT  AT  COLD  HARBOR    -    -    238 

Surprise  and  Disappointment — The  Battle  at 
Cold  Harbor — Comments  of  the  English  Press. 

XXXI. — ENTIRE    LEFT    FLANK  —  How    PETERSBURG 


WAS  LOST 252 

Details   of   the   Manoeuver — Failure   at    Peters- 
burg— Pain; 
Civil  War. 


burg — Painful  Chapter  in  the  History  of  the 
ivu 


XXXII. — IN  THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  SHENANDOAH  -    -    -    274 

The  Most  Fertile  Region  in  Virginia — Sheridan 
Sent  into  the  Valley — A  Letter  from  Lincoln 
— Sheridan  at  Winchester — Sheridan  Made  a 
Major  General  in  the  Regular  Army — General 
McPherson  Killed — Sherman's  March  to  the 
Sea. 

XXXIII. — How  GRANT  REACHED  APPOMATTOX    -    -    -    295 

Headquarters  at  City  Point — Visitors  at  Grant's 
Headquarters  —  Capture  of  Fort  Fisher  — 
Grant  s  Appearance — Sheridan's  Army  Trans- 
ferred to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 

XXXIV. — GRANT  AND  LEE  SHAKE  HANDS 305 

The  End  of  the  War  Near — Grant  Visits  Peters- 
burg —  Correspondence  Between  Grant  and 
Lee — The  End  Had  Come. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  xiii 

XXXV.— THE  LAST  BATTLE— THE  GRAND  REVIEW  -    -    324 

Parolling  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia — 
Learns  of  Lincoln's  Assassination — General 
Johnston  Surrenders  to  Sherman — Capture  of 
Jefferson  Davis — Grandest  Military  Pageant 
Ever  Witnessed  on  this  Continent— Grand 
ReTiew  in  Washington. 

XXXVI. — GRANT  AS  A  COMMANDER 332 

A  Story  of  Peculiar  Interest — Colonel  Vilas* 
Tribute — Elaine's  Address — Lee's  Opinion  of 
Grant — The  Man  of  Mystery  one  of  the 
Grandest  Characters  in  all  History. 

XXXVII. — A  REMARKABLE  HOME-COMING    -    -    -    -    341 

Meets  General  Scott  at  West  Point — His  Re- 
ception at  Galena — The  Most  Popular  Man 
in  America. 

XXXVIII. — GRANT  AND  THE  PRESIDENCY 350 

President  Johnson's  Difficulties — Grant  Unani- 
mously Nominated  for  President — Enters 
upon  the  Presidency — Sumner's  Opposition 
— Andrew  D.  White's  Opinion  of  Grant — 
Appoints  General  Longstreet  to  Office — 
Grant's  Statesmanship. 

XXXIX.— THE  TRIP  AROUND  THE  WORLD    -    -    -    -    361 

His  Arrival  at  Liverpool — Given  the  Freedom 
of  London — Arrives  at  San  Francisco— 
Reaches  Philadelphia. 

XL. — GRANT'S  LAST  AND  GREATEST  VICTORY    -    -    370 

Visits  Cuba  and  Mexico — The  Three  Term 
Proposition  —  Makes  New  York  City  his 
Home — The  Grant  &  Ward  Failure — Begin- 
ning of  his  Last  Illness — His  Last  Days — 
The  Funeral. 


TRUTH  IS  STRANGER  THAN  FICTION. 

HE  writer  of  a  romance  of  rare  genius  and 
of  lively  imagination,  seeks  to  create  a 
character  the  conception  of  which  shall  be 
the  most  audacious  known  since  the  world 
began.  Searching  along  byways  for  material  out  of 
which  to  make  a  hero,  he  finds  a  little  man,  secluded  as  a 
clerk  in  a  sequestered  town.  He  has  lived  out  half  the 
allotted  years  of  man,  has  met  with  disappointments, 
has  failed  in  business,  is  without  means,  has  a  depend- 
ent family,  and  the  future  seems  without  hope. 

A  crisis  befalls  the  land.  Patriotism  is  burned  into 
the  soul  of  this  shy,  unambitious,  unknown  man.  He 
offers  all  he  has  in  the  world — himself — to  his  country. 
But  he  is  diffident,  and  unsoldierly  in  bearing,  and  is  re- 
pelled. Others  of  finer  speech  and  of  more  pretentious 
mien  are  preferred  before  him.  But  he  remains  true. 
Again  he  is  rejected.  Finally  the  door  of  opportunity 


2  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

opens.  A  small  command  is  given  to  him.  He  is  equal 
to  the  occasion.  His  rank  is  raised,  and  eight  months 
after,  this  stranger,  who  never  loved  army  life  and 
cared  less  for  the  study  of  war,  has  his  name  carried  to 
the  farthermost  parts  of  the  land.  He  wins  the  first 
decisive  victory  for  the  Nation  and  its  flag.  From  mil- 
lions comes  the  cry :  "Whence  comes  this  man  ?"  Hardly 
had  the  answer  been  flashed  back  before  he  commands 
the  largest  army  in  the  greatest  battle  that  had  then 
been  fought  on  the  continent,  and  his  fame  becomes 
world-wide. 

Again  in  twelve  months  he  startles  the  world  by 
conceiving  and  executing  the  most  remarkable  siege 
known  in  history.  His  name  is  hailed  with  frenzied 
acclaim.  People  are  thrilled  by  his  sublime  courage 
and  success,  and  amazed  at  the  modesty  and  unselfish- 
ness of  the  man. 

He  rises  to  higher  honor.  In  thirty-three  months 
from  the  day  he  passed  out  of  the  shop  a  struggling 
salesman,  he  is  invested  with  more  extraordinary  power 
than  was  ever  before  conferred  by  a  republic  upon  a 
commander  of  men  of  arms.  The  hour  of  supreme 
victory  finally  comes;  and  the  quiet  man,  who  never 
sought  fame,  or  sway,  or  place,  saves  the  Nation. 

In  the  contracted  span  of  seven  years,  this  hero, 
who  never  received  preferment  with  pride,  rises  from 
the  humblest  station  in  life  to  the  zenith  of  human  fame. 
The  chief  magistracy  of  the  earth's  most  powerful  na- 
tion is  thrust  upon  him.  Earth  has  no  more  honors  it 


TRUTH  18  STRANGER  THAN  FICTION  3 

can  bestow.  He  conquers  the  heart  of  the  world,  and 
commands  the  respect  and  good  will  of  a  gallant,  fallen 
foe.  Peoples  and  governments  of  all  republics  and 
kingdoms  pay  him  homage. 

There  is  a  general  maxim  which  regulates  the  appli- 
cation of  fiction — that  no  fiction  shall  be  admitted 
which  seems  in  the  nature  of  things  to  be  impossible. 
If  this  maxim  must  stand,  what  about  our  novelist's 
hero — plucked  by  destiny  from  obscurity,  whose  leap 
to  immortal  fame  is  so  sudden,  whose  achievements  are 
so  extraordinary  as  to  have  no  counterpart  in  the  life 
of  man  since  time  began  ?  Can  it  be  possible,  or  even 
probable,  that  the  character,  portrayed  in  the  full  swing 
of  the  artist's  fancy,  is  true  to  the  realities  of  life  ? 

Has  it  ever  occurred  to  the  general  reader,  or  to  the 
average  student  of  history,  that  on  the  pages  of  Ameri- 
can biography,  a  character,  a  hero,  is  found,  whose  in- 
trepidity and  achievements  in  war  are  so  picturesque 
and  dramatic,  and  whose  rise  to  fame  so  instant  and 
enduring,  that  fiction  "can  furnish  no  match  for  the 
romance  of  his  life"  ?  Search  where  you  may  in  fiction 
or  biography  belonging  to  any  country  or  any  age,  and 
you  will  fail  to  find  an  equal  to  Ulysses  S.  Grant.  If 
we  reckon  with  his  services  on  the  field,  the  strangeness 
of  his  whole  career,  the  solidity  of  his  faith  and  hope, 
and  the  impressiveness  of  his  unostentatious  character, 
lie  is  supreme  among  men. 

It  is  of  Grant — not  the  ideal  Grant,  but  the  real 
Grant — so  immeasurably  great  and  yet  so  human,  that 


4  GRANT,  THE  MAX  OF  MYSTERY 

I  wish  to  write.  He  certainly  touched  more  common 
traits  of  human  nature  than  any  other  American ;  and 
this  suggests  that  to  obtain  an  accurate  measurement  of 
the  man  we  must  apply  the  rule  of  contrast ;  for  the  life 
of  Grant  is  filled  with  contrasts  probably  more  striking 
than  the  life  of  any  other  man  in  the  records  of  human 
endeavor. 

First  the  student  of  the  life  of  Grant  discovers  the 
mystery  of  his  character.  We  must  not  expect  fully  to 
understand  him.  We  can  no  more  understand  him  than 
we  can  tell  with  certainty  why  a  suspended  piece  of 
steel,  touched  with  a  magnet,  turns  toward  the  pole. 
He  was  a  mystery  to  Lincoln,  and  to  Sherman,  who,  of 
all  the  generals,  knew  him  best,  and  he  was  "a  mystery 
to  himself."  It  has  been  stated  that  twice  he  distinctly 
felt  within  himself  an  intimation  of  what  would  come 
to  him  in  the  future ;  once  on  the  day  of  his  graduation 
at  West  Point  and  again  when  \ricksburg  fell.  Some 
have  set  this  down  as  an  idle  fancy,  but  whatever  view 
may  be  taken  of  these  incidents,  it  is  quite  evident  that 
in  his  younger  manhood,  particularly  when  he  left  the 
old  army  under  a  cloud,  he  had  visions  of  a  clearing 
sky  beyond  the  shadows,  and  darkness,  and  disappoint- 
ments and  trials  of  a  struggling  and  fruitless  career. 
He  seems  to  have  been  conscious  of  a  mission. 

Possibly  this  may  in  part  explain  why  in  so  many 
hazardous  and  stormy  scenes  in  time  of  war,  when  the 
responsibility  imposed  upon  him  would  have  either 
crushed  or  discomfited  any  other  commander,  he  was 


TRUTH  IS  8T&ANGBR  THAN  F1VTIOX  5 

able  to  remain  composed  and  to  stand  firm,  confident  of 
the  ultimate  success  of  liis  army.  Therefore,  the  sim- 
plest way  for  the  mind  to  grasp  the  mystery  of  his  per- 
sonality, if  we  attempt  to  grasp  it  at  all,  is  to  conclude 
that  through  all  the  years  when  his  sword  was  drawn  in 
defence  of  his  country,  he  was  guided,  encouraged,  sus- 
tained by  a  Higher  Power — or  call  it  by  any  other  name 
you  please — and  being  so  upheld,  he  became  an  uncon- 
ditional victor  on  every  field,  so  that  no  famous  career 
in  all  history  was  more  signally  successful  than  his. 
There  is  no  sentiment  about  this,  there  was  none  in 
Grant.  Mentally,  he  felt  very  close  to  God  from  whom 
he  received  inspiration,  but  he  did  not  expect  that  God 
would  fight  the  battles  for  him;  he  simply  determined 
to  fight  with  God  and  beat  down  the  enemy.  He  felt  in 
his  soul  that  "the  man  who  takes  up  the  struggle  for 
truth,  who  puts  his  hand  to  the  sword  for  the  right, 
finds  himself  holding  a  two-handled  weapon,  and  if  he 
grasps  firmly  the  one  hilt  it  is  as  though  there  was  an 
omnipotent  hand  grasping  the  other." 

When  Whitelaw  Reid  wrote  Ohio  in  the  War,  the 
field  of  Shiloh  and  other  conflicts  in  which  he  had  seen 
Grant  being  fresh  in  his  mind,  he  said  of  the  general : 

"Such  a  career  laughs  at  criticism  and  defies  depre- 
cation. Success  succeeds.  But  when  the  philosophic 
historian  comes  to  analyze  the  strange  features  of  our 
great  war,  no  anomaly  will  be  more  puzzling  than 
Grant.  .  .  .  He  will  marvel  at  the  amazing  men- 
tal poise  of  the  man,  cast  down  by  no  disaster,  elated  by 


G  URANT,  THE  MAX  OF  MYSTERY 

no  success.     He  will  admire  his  strong,  good  sense, 

.  .  his  tremendous,  unconquerable  will.  He  will 
find  him  not  fertile  in  expedients,  but  steadfast  in  exe- 
cution; terrible  in  determination  that  was  stopped  by 
no  question  of  cost;  yet  he  will  look  in  vain  for  such 
characteristics  as  should  account  for  his  being  first  in 
a  nation  of  soldiers. 

"Seeking  still  further  for  the  cause  of  his  rise,  he 
will  record  firm  friendships  that  were  so  helpful;  will 
observe  how  willingness  to  fight  while  others  were  forti- 
fying, first  gave  him  power;  will  allow  for  the  un- 
exampled profusion  in  which  soldiers  and  munitions 
were  always  furnished  to  his  call;  how  he  came  upon 
the  broader  stage  only  when  it  was  made  easier  for  his 
tread  by  the  failures  of  his  predecessors  and  the  pres- 
tige of  his  victories,  and  how  both  combined  to  make 
him  absolute. 

".  .  .  But  after  all  these  considerations  he  will 
fail  to  find  the  veritable  secret  of  his  wonderful  suc- 
cess, and  will  at  last  be  forced  to  set  it  down  that  For- 
tune— the  happy  explainer  of  mysteries  inexplicable 
— did  from  the  outset  so  attend  him  that  ...  he 
was  mysteriously  held  up  and  borne  forward,  so  that 
at  the  end  he  was  able  to  rest  in  the  highest  profes- 
sional promotion,  'in  peace  after  so  many  troubles,  in 
honor  after  so  much  obloquy.' ' 

This  is  the  man  who,  by  the  greatness  of  his  service, 
is  necessarily  the  most  eminent  American  citizen.  And 
yet,  many  have  wondered,  and  are  still  wondering,  if 


TRUTH  I H  HTRAXQER  THAN  FICTION  1 

the  average  American  reader — old  or  young — fully  ap- 
preciates the  greatness  of  his  character,  or  the  ines- 
timable service  he  rendered  his  country.  Xo  man  born 
during  nineteen  centuries  of  Christianity  is  surer  of 
permanent  fame  than  Grant ;  and  the  more  we  give  his 
life  and  personality  thoughtful  consideration,  the  more 
profound  becomes  the  interest  in  his  singularly  strange 
career.  With  every  advancing  step  of  knowledge  in 
relation  to  him,  the  more  we  are  brought  into  the  pres- 
ence of  an  ever-widening  mystery.  But  while  we  may 
be  bewildered  at  his  astonishing  success  as  a  commander 
of  men,  there  are  certain  qualities  of  heart  and  mind 
which  need  to  be  emphasized  as  we  go  along,  for  they, 
as  well  as  his  unmatched  record  as  a  soldier,  made  him 
great. 

The  purpose  of  this  writing  is  not  to  attempt  to  open 
a  rift  into  the  clouded  mystery  of  the  man,  but  to  lend 
a  helping  hand  to  those  who  desire  to  obtain  a  clearer 
conception  of  the  real  Grant  than  they  can  get  from  the 
larger  books  which  are  devoted  chiefly  to  his  military 
career.  His  masterful  resources  in  handling  large 
armies,  and  his  indomitable  will  and  sublime  courage 
in  fighting  battles,  excite  wonder;  but  when  we  know 
him  intimately  it  is  his  personality  which  charms. 

I  do  not  mean  to  present  Grant  as  a  perfect  man. 
He  was  human  like  the  rest  of  us  and  had  his  imper- 
fections, but  reading  history  aright  we  learn  that  he 
rose  above  the  plane  of  the  daily  experiences  of  most 
great  men.  It  was  not  among  possibilities  that  the 


8  GKAXT,  THE  MAX  OF  MYSTERY 

pathway  from  Point  Pleasant  to  Mt.  McGregor  could  be 
trodden  without  a  few  false  steps  being  made,  and  the 
wonder  is  that  such  a  strange  and  eventful  life  could  be 
lived  in  which  there  are  so  few  acts  to  criticise. 

It  has  been  said  repeatedly  that  Grant  was  born 
for  a  great  purpose.  And  it  is  quite  agreeable  to 
reason  to  assume  that  no  man  could  trust  as  he  trusted, 
and  accomplish  what  he  accomplished,  without  such  a 
conviction.  So  when  the  stress  of  war  was  severest, 
and  the  outlook  darkest,  he  was  able  to  maintain  an 
unquenched  hope  and  a  faith  that  never  shrank,  and 
once  and  for  all  he  set  his  face  firmly,  but  kindly, 
against  all  suggestions  which  did  not  harmonize  with 
his  sense  of  justice.  As  I  proceed  with  these  pages 
I  wish  to  illustrate  and  illuminate  with  exactness  the 
qualities  of  this  great  man:  his  true  manliness;  his 
stern  justice  and  womanly  gentleness ;  his  supreme  self- 
possession,  and  simplicity  and  rectitude;  his  single- 
heartedness;  his  true-hearted  patriotism;  his  justness 
and  mercifulness  in  peace  as  well  as  his  terribleness  in 
war;  his  absolute  freedom  from  corrupt  communica- 
tion ;  his  greatness  unmixed  with  personal  ambition ; 
his  abiding  faith  in  himself,  in  his  tried  friends,  in  his 
comrades  in  arms,  in  his  country,  and  in  his  God. 

In  brief,  I  desire  that  the  reader  shall  become  bet- 
ter acquainted  with  the  Grant  who  stands  out  in  history 
as  a  great,  free,  independent,  solitary  spirit;  never 
weakened  by  praise  or  flattery,  unchanged  by  the  allure- 
ments of  honor  and  power,  and  who  had  but  a  single 


TRUTH  IK  STRANGER  THAN  FICTION  9 

determination :  to  devote  all  his  ability  to  the  saving  of 
the  nation. 

Washington,  Lincoln,  Grant !  The  great  American 
triumvirate,  the  heroic  central  figures  in  the  most  mo- 
mentous and  thrilling  drama  ever  enacted  by  a  freedom- 
loving  people !  There  is  no  primacy  among  them ;  and 
the  greatness  of  their  patriotic  services  will  be  held  in 
thankful  remembrance  as  long  as  free  government 
endures. 


II. 


BIRTH  AND  BOYHOOD. 

HE  marriage  of  Jesse  Eoot  Grant,  a  young 
man  of  industry  and  sturdy  qualities,  to 
Hannah  Simpson,  a  sensible  and  lovable 
young  woman  of  cheerful  piety,  introduces 
us  to  one  of  the  most  dramatic  periods  in  American 
history.  The  event  was  celebrated  in  1821,  at  Point 
Pleasant,  Ohio,  some  twenty-five  miles  east  of  Cincin- 
nati. It  is  now  the  same  sleepy  hamlet  as  when  Hiram 
Ulysses  Grant  was  born  there  in  a  log  cabin,  April 
27th,  1822. 

One  year  after  the  birth  of  Hiram,  the  family  set- 
tled at  Georgetown,  the  county  seat  of  Brown  county, 
a  few  miles  east  of  Point  Pleasant.  Here  Mr.  Grant 
owned  and  personally  operated  a  small  tannery.  Be- 
fore engaging  in  this  business  on  his  own  account,  he 
worked  in  a  tannery  and  lived  in  the  same  house  with 
Owen  Brown,  at  Deerfield,  Ohio.  This  simple  fact 


BIRTH  AXD  BOYHOOD  11 

suggests  to  the  mind  the  wonders  which  are  wrought  by 
the  passing  of  time.  The  second  child  and  eldest  son 
of  the  tanner  and  shoemaker  became  known  as  John 
Brown  of  Ossawatomie,  whose  "Soul  goes  marching 
on";  and  the  first-born  of  the  tanner  and  farmer  be- 
came known  to  fame  as  IT.  S.  Grant. 

Hiram  (that  being  the  name  by  which  his  mother 
always  called  him)  lived  in  Georgetown  until  his  ap- 
pointment to  West  Point  in  1839.  Two  winters,  how- 
ever, were  spent  at  school  away  from  home,  those  of 
1836-7  at  Mayville,  Kentucky,  and  1838-9  at  Kipley, 
Ohio,  the  latter  place  being  ten  miles  from  Georgetown. 

It  has  often  been  said  that  some  of  Hiram's  early 
years  were  spent  in  his  father's  tannery,  but  this  is 
fiction.  Mr.  Grant  owned  considerable  land  near  the 
tannery,  much  of  which  was  under  cultivation,  and  a 
portion  was  timbered.  Hiram  detested  the  business  of 
tanning  as  a  trade,  but  was  fond  of  farming  and  of  all 
employment  in  which  horses  were  used.  When  he  was 
eight  years  old  he  began  to  haul  all  the  wood  necessary 
for  the  house  and  shops,  though  he  could  not  load  or 
unload  the  wagon.  At  the  age  of  eleven  he  was  strong 
enough  to  hold  the  plow,  and  from  that  time  until 
he  was  seventeen  he  says  he  attended  to  all  the  work 
done  with  horses,  "such  as  breaking  up  the  land,  plow- 
ing corn  and  potatoes,  bringing  in  the  crops  when  har- 
vested, besides  tending  two  or  three  horses,  a  cow  or 
two,  and  sawing  wood  for  stoves,  and  so  on,"  while  at- 
tending school  in  the  winter  months. 


12  GRANT,  THE  MAX  OF  MYSTERY 

Grant  makes  confession  in  the  Memoirs  that  he  did 
not  like  to  work,  yet  he  did  not  shirk  the  labor  assigned 
to  him  by  his  father.  And  here  we  get  somewhat  of  an 
insight  into  the  soul  standard  of  the  coming  man.  If 
work  on  the  farm  was  irksome  to  him,  he  was  cautious 
in  not  communicating  the  fact  to  his  parents,  because 
of  a  tender  regard  for  their  feelings. 

Hiram  spent  sixteen  years  in  Georgetown,  and  while 
the  Memoirs  say  they  were  "uneventful"  years,  they 
had  much  to  do  with  the  making  of  the  man.  Here  he 
laid  a  good  foundation  against  the  time  to  come.  But 
those  who  knew  Grant  can  readily  understand  why  he 
called  those  years  uneventful.  He  never  wrote  with  a 
free  hand  with  reference  to  personal  matters  not  con- 
nected with  the  vast  operations  during  the  Civil  War. 
That  he  did  not  wield  the  pen  of  a  ready  writer  in  mere 
personal  affairs,  and  that  there  was  a  total  absence  of 
egotism  and  self-assertion  in  his  character,  is  illus- 
trated in  the  fact  that  all  he  says  in  the  Memoirs  of  his 
life  from  Point  Pleasant  to  West  Point  covers  less 
than  eight  pages. 

But  the  sixteen  years  at  Georgetown  were  event- 
ful. Hiram's  home  was  the  making  of  the  man.  His 
father  and  mother  taught  him  patriotism,  which  never 
died  out  of  his  heart.  He  early  fell  into  the  habit  of 
cherishing  good  impulses.  It  must  not  be  inferred, 
however,  that  he  was  always  an  ideal  boy.  There  were 
many  pitfalls  into  which  boys  were  often  led  in  such  a 
village  as  Georgetown,  and  he  was  as  human  as  his  com- 


BIRTH  AND  BOYHOOD  13 

panions;  but  with  this  difference — he  was  stronger  to 
resist  evil  than  most  boys  of  his  class.  Having  a  steady 
temper,  which  came  from  his  mother,  it  was  difficult 
to  inveigle  him  into  a  quarrel;  but  if  forced  into  one, 
it  was  said  to  his  credit  that  he  was  never  defeated. 

In  one  important  particular  Hiram  was  highly 
favored  in  his  youth.  His  father  was  a  wise  man  in 
many  respects,  though  often  stern  and  somewhat  ec- 
centric. His  mother  was  patient,  sensible,  and  devout. 
The  father's  hard  sense  and  the  mother's  religious  in- 
stinct and  loyalty  to  convictions  were  inherited  by  the 
son.  The  saying  that  "all  good  boys  take  after  the 
mother"  may  have  exceptions,  but  it  was  verified  in 
Hiram.  Napoleon  says,  "The  future  destiny  of  the 
child  is  always  the  work  of  the  mother" ;  and  Emerson 
puts  the  same  thought  in  the  same  sentence,  "Men  are 
what  their  mothers  made  them."  Young  Grant  was 
rocked  in  a  Methodist  cradle  and  trained  in  a  Method- 
ist home.  His  mother's  love  had  a  lasting  influence 
over  him.  From  his  youth  to  the  close  of  his  life  he 
was  scrupulously  free  from  vulgarity  or  profanity.  He 
was  deeply  religious  by  nature,  but  apparently  devoid 
of  sentiment  or  emotion ;  and  it  is  a  singular  fact  that 
lie — the  most  religious  boy  in  the  family — was  the  only 
one  of  the  six  children  who  was  not  baptized  in  early 
life. 

The  progress  Hiram  made  in  the  schools  at  May- 
ville  and  Ripley  did  not  seem  to  justify  the  outlay  for 
board  and  tuition.  He  got  on  quite  well  in  mathe- 


14  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

matics,  and  read  with  interest  the  few  volumes  of 
biography  which  were  accessible  in  those  days,  but  in 
other  studies  he  did  not  attain  to  a  standard  of  pro- 
ficiency. One  of  his  confessions  in  later  life  was  that 
the  older  he  grew  the  more  indolent  he  became — "my 
besetting  sin  through  life." 


III. 

THE  DOOR  TO  WEST  POINT  IS  OPENED. 

F  Mr.  Grant  were  a  stern  and  an  eccentric 
man  at  times,  he  was  a  considerate  father. 
He  had  studied  the  weak  and  strong  points 
of  Hiram's  character.  While  he  did  not 
presume  that  the  boy  could  ever  be  fitted  for  great 
things,  he  firmly  believed  there  was  more  good  stuff  in 
him  than  anyone  could  discover  by  mere  outward  indi- 
cations. It  was  not  revealed  at  the  time  that  there  were 
latent  in  his  son  the  wide  and  varied  qualities  of  effi- 
ciency and  power  derived  from  the  personalities  of 
father  and  mother.  But  Mr.  Grant  had  confidence  in 
Hiram,  despite  his  often  provoking  failures  and  lack 
of  energy  and  promise,  and  in  his  wisdom  he  carefully 
thought  out  a  career  for  him  in  which  he  believed  he 
would  be  tolerably  successful. 

While  Mr.  Grant  was  fairly  well-to-do  for  a  tanner 
and  farmer  in  those  days,  he  was,  for  financial  reasons, 


16  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

unable  to  place  Hiram  in  any  of  the  higher  institutions 
of  learning.  Therefore,  he  had  in  view  the  Military 
Academy  at  West  Point,  where  cadets  were  educated 
at  government  expense.  He  was  something  of  a  prophet 
in  this  matter,  as  he  had  stronger  hope  of  his  son's  ulti- 
mate success  than  Hiram  himself,  or  any  of  his  George- 
town neighbors. 

When  Hiram  was  spending  his  Christmas  vacation 
at  home  in  the  winter  of  1839  (he  was  then  attending 
school  at  Ripley),  one  morning,  his  father  said  to  him: 

"  Ulysses,  I  believe  you  will  receive  the  appoint- 
ment." 

"What  appointment?"  asked  Ulysses. 

"To  West  Point ;  I  have  applied  for  it." 

"But  I  won't  go,"  responded  Ulysses. 

The  Memoirs  say :  "Father  said  he  thought  I  would, 
and  I  thought  so  too,  if  he  did.  I  really  had  no  objec- 
tion to  going  to  West  Point,  except  that  I  had  a  very 
exalted  idea  of  the  requirements  necessary  to  get 
through.  I  did  not  believe  I  possessed  them,  and  I  could 
not  bear  the  idea  of  failing." 

The  father's  commands,  firmly,  but  kindly  enforced, 
governed  the  Grant  home,  and  therefore  the  General 
was  impelled  to  employ,  in  a  facetious  way,  the  italics 
found  in  the  quotation. 

The  accounts  relating  to  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Grant  to 
secure  the  appointment  of  his  son  to  West  Point  vary 
in  several  biographies.  Even  the  Memoirs  are  partly 
in  error,  but  this  should  not  cause  surprise  when  the 


THE  DOOR  TO  WEST  POINT  18  OPENED  17 

painful  conditions  in  which  that  great  work  was  writ- 
ten are  considered.  The  subject  is  important  enough 
to  warrant  a  correction  of  the  errors. 

In  the  autumn  of  1838,  Thomas  Morris  of  Ohio, 
a  member  of  the  United  States  Senate,  visited  George- 
town, and  on  that  occasion  Mr.  Grant  spoke  to  him  rela- 
tive to  the  appointment  of  Hiram  to  West  Point.  Later 
in  the  season,  evidently  early  in  December,  he  wrote  a 
letter  to  Morris,  the  answer  to  which  he  read  to  Hiram 
at  Christmastide.  The  power  to  appoint  cadets  to  the 
Military  Academy  was  vested  in  the  Representative  in 
Congress,  and  the  sitting  member  from  that  district  was 
Thomas  L.  Hamer,  a  resident  of  Georgetown,  and,  of 
course,  an  acquaintance  of  the  Grant  family.  But 
there  were  strained  relations  existing  between  Mr. 
Jlainer  and  Mr.  Grant;  and  the  Memoirs  say:  "Under 
these  circumstances  my  father  would  not  write  to  Mr. 
Hamer  for  the  appointment,  and  he  wrote  Senator  Mor- 
ris, informing  him  that  there  was  a  vacancy  at  West 
Point  from  our  district.  .  .  .  This  letter,  I  pre- 
sume, was  turned  over  to  Mr.  Hamer,  and  as  there  was 
no  other  applicant,  he  cheerfully  appointed  me." 

At  this  point  the  Memoirs  are  in  error.  It  is  pre- 
sumable that  Senator  Morris,  in  corresponding  with 
Mr.  Grant,  urged  him  to  make  a  direct  application  to 
Mr.  Hamer  for  the  appointment.  The  father's  heart 
was-  firmly  set  on  his  son  entering  the  Academy.  In  a 
matter  that  so  deeply  concerned  him,  he  had  the  good 
sense  to  forget  and  forgive.  His  asperity,  so  far  as  his 


18  GRANT,  THE  MAX  OF  MYSTERY 

relation  to  Mr.  Hamer  was  concerned,  was  softened, 
and  he  wrote  the  following  letter: 

"GEORGETOWN,  Feb.  19,  1839. 
Hon.  Thomas  L.  Hamer: 

"DEAR  SIR: — In  consequence  of  a  remark  of  Mr. 
Morris  while  here  last  fall,  I  was  induced  to  apply  to 
the  War  Department,  through  him,  for  a  cadet  appoint- 
ment of  my  son,  H.  Ulysses. 

"A  letter  this  evening  received  from  the  Depart- 
ment informs  me  that  you  only  are  entitled  to  the 
nomination  and  that  your  consent  would  be  necessary  to 
enable  him  to  obtain  the  appointment. 

"I  have  thought  it  advisable  to  consult  you  on  the 
subject.  And  if  you  have  no  other  person  in  view  for 
the  appointment,  and  feel  willing  to  consent  to  the  ap- 
pointment of  Ulysses,  you  will  please  signify  that  con- 
sent to  the  Department. 

"When  I  last  wrote  Mr.  Morris  I  referred  him  to 
you  to  recommend  the  young  man  if  that  were  necessary. 
"Respectfully  yours, 

"JESSE  R.  GRANT. 

"Hon.  Thomas  L.  Hamer,  M.C., 
"Washington  City." 

It  was  this  letter,  written  to  a  personal  and  political 
adversary,  that  opened  to  young  Grant  the  door  to  his 
great  career.  Mr.  Henry  C.  Badger  of  Cambridge, 
Massachusetts,  secured  the  original  letter  in  1868  from 
the  daughter  of  General  Hamer,  then  living  at  Mount 
Vernon,  Indiana,  and  it  is  now  among  the  treasures  of 


THE  DOOR  TO  WEST  POINT  IK  OPENED  19 

the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  of  Boston.  Its 
first  appearance  in  print  was  in  the  New  York  Tribune, 
in  1886. 

The  appointment  of  Hiram  to  the  Academy  was  a 
magnanimous  act  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Hamer,  and  little 
did  he  realize  how  much  it  meant  to  history.  There 
was  an  enmity  approaching  bitterness  between  the  con- 
gressman and  Mr.  Grant.  "To  the  victors  belong  the 
spoils/'  was  the  shibboleth  of  the  party  then  in  power, 
and  Mr.  Hamer  was  a  lifelong  Democrat,  and  Mr. 
Grant  a  staunch  Whig. 

It  will  be  interesting  to  the  readers  to  learn  that 
when  the  war  with  Mexico  was  declared  in  1846 — Mr. 
Hamer's  term  in  Congress  having  expired — he  enlisted 
as  a  private  in  the  army  in  which  Grant  was  then  serv- 
ing as  a  second  lieutenant,  but  in  a  few  weeks  was  com- 
missioned a  brigadier  general.  He  distinguished  him- 
self at  the  battle  of  Monterey,  September  21-23,  1846, 
and  on  the  3d  of  the  following  December  he  died  sud- 
denly in  that  city  of  malignant  fever. 

The  pathway  of  young  Grant  to  the  Military 
Academy  was  not  strewed  with  promise  and  hope.  He 
had  no  love  for  military  life.  In  appearance,  at  least, 
he  did  not  possess  soldierly  qualities.  He  could  see  in 
West  Point  only  a  temporary  advantage.  The  curious 
condition  of  his  heart  and  mind  at  this  time  is  revealed 
in  the  Memoirs:  "Going  to  West  Point  would  give  me 
the  opportunity  of  visiting  the  two  great  cities  of  the 
continent,  Philadelphia  and  New  York.  This  was 


20  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

enough.  When  these  places  were  visited  I  would  have 
been  glad  to  have  had  a  steamboat  or  a  railroad  col- 
lision, or  any  other  accident  happen,  by  which  I  might 
have  received  a  temporary  injury  sufficient  to  make  me 
ineligible,  for  a  time,  to  enter  the  Academy.  Nothing 
of  the  kind  occurred,  and  I  had  to  face  the  music." 

Here  begins  one  of  the  strangest  and  most  interest- 
ing chapters  of  American  biography ;  and  here,  also,  we 
catch  a  glimpse  of  Grant — the  man  of  mystery. 


IV. 

THE  WEST  POINT  CADET. 

IRAM  ULYSSES  GRANT  reported  at 
West  Point  in  the  last  week  of  May,  1839. 
He  was  seventeen  years  old,  a  good,  all 
around  boy,  but  not  ambitious.  The  exam- 
ination, for  which  he  had  so  much  dread,  was  passed 
successfully.  Yet  he  fancied  himself  out  of  place  in 
the  Academy.  What  he  was  there  for  he  hardly  knew. 
He  was  of  that  temperamental  type  which  made  it  slow 
work  for  him  to  reach  a  definite  decision  as  to  what  his 
purpose  in  life  should  be.  Thus  far  he  was  a  stranger 
to  mental  discipline  or  action  expressive  of  sentiment 
or  passion.  And  the  one  thing  which  was  farthest  re- 
moved from  him  was  the  dream  of  military  glory. 

When  Mr.  Hamer  nominated  young  Grant  for  a 
cadetship,  he  sent  the  name,  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  to  the 
War  Department,  supposing  his  second  name  was  Simp- 
son, the  maiden  name  of  his  mother.  The  name  given 


22  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MT8TERY 

him  in  infancy  was  Hiram  Ulysses,  but  of  this  Mr. 
Ilamer  had  no  knowledge.  Although  the  error,  un- 
wittingly committed,  was  a  provoking  one  to  the  Grant 
family,  neither  the  commandant  at  the  Academy  nor  the 
Secretary  of  War  deemed  the  matter  of  sufficient  conse- 
quence to  warrant  correction. 

William  T.  Sherman  was  a  cadet  of  three  years' 
standing  when  young  Grant  entered  the  Academy,  and 
speaking  of  the  event  many  years  afterwards,  he  said : 
"In  that  year  there  appeared  on  the  walls  of  the  hall  in 
Old  North  Barracks,  a  list  of  new  cadets,  among  them 
U.  S.  Grant.  A  crowd  of  lookers-on  read,  United  States 
Grant,  Uncle  Sam  Grant,  and  Sam  Grant  he  is  known 
to-day  in  the  tradition  of  the  Old  Fourth  U.  S.  In- 
fantry. Cadet  Grant  tried  to  correct  this  error  at  the 
beginning  and  end  of  his  cadet  life  without  success,  and 
to  history  his  name  must  ever  be  U.  S.  Grant." 

I  have  already  intimated  that  the  life  of  a  soldier 
had  no  charms  for  Cadet  Grant.  He  was  in  no  condi- 
tion of  mind  to  push  his  studies.  At  the  beginning  of 
his  cadetship  no  vision  which  vitalized  his  hope  came  to 
him.  He  did  not  have  the  eye  of  faith  which  sees  the 
prize  at  the  end  long  before  it  is  reached.  He  tells  us 
that  he  had  not  the  remotest  idea  of  staying  in  the  army 
even  should  he  be  fortunate  enough  to  be  graduated, 
which  he  did  not  expect. 

A  bill  was  before  Congress  in  1839,  to  abolish  the 
West  Point  Academy,  and  Cadet  Grant  fervently  hoped 
it  would  become  a  law,  that  he  might  be  relieved  from 


THE  WEST  POINT  CADET  23 

the  obligation  of  spending  four  years  at  the  school. 
When  the  bill  failed  to  pass  he  was  sorely  disappointed, 
and  writing  of  the  occasion,  he  says:  "Time  hung 
drearily  with  me.  My  idea  then  was  to  get  through  the 
course,  secure  a  detail  for  a  few  years  as  assistant  pro- 
fessor of  mathematics,  and  afterwards  obtain  a  perma- 
nent position  as  professor  in  some  respectable  college; 
but  circumstances  always  did  shape  my  course  different 
from  my  plans." 

There  are  no  incidents  of  an  unusual  character  on 
record  pertaining  to  Cadet  Grant's  life  at  the  Academy. 
But  the  study  of  his  quiet,  unambitious  life  at  that 
period  is  of  particular  importance.  The  thing  that  fills 
one  with  wonder  is  the  contrasting  of  his  standing  as  a 
military  student  with  the  marvellous  ability  he  dis- 
played as  a  commander  of  great  armies  in  the  War  of 
the  Rebellion. 

Cadet  Grant  was  highly  esteemed  at  the  Academy. 
He  was  kindly  disposed,  never  provoked  a  quarrel,  was 
a  companionable  room-mate,  and  his  cool  judgment  and 
constant  fairness  were  so  observable  that  he  was  fre- 
quently called  upon  to  umpire  disputes  among  cadets. 
But  in  one  thing  he  was  lacking.  No  great  passion 
burned  in  his  soul.  His  habits  were  not  of  the  studious 
kind.  His  mental  capacity  was  sufficient  for  the  ac- 
complishment of  great  things,  but  his  deficient  energy 
kept  him  from  pushing  towards  the  mark  for  the  prize 
of  high  standing  in  his  class.  He  had  not  then,  and  had 
never  afterwards,  the  gift  of  self-advertisement;  and 


24  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

after  he  got  fairly  well  started  in  his  studies,  the  best 
he  could  say  for  himself  is  in  this  characteristic  sentence 
to  his  father:  "I  don't  expect  to  make  very  fast  prog- 
ress, but  I  will  try  to  hold  on  to  what  I  get."  Here  was 
somewhat  a  foreshadowing  of  the  bulldog  tenacity  which 
afterwards  made  him  so  famous.  His  constant  draw- 
back at  this  period  was  the  absence,  to  all  appearances, 
of  military  instincts  and  inclinations ;  and  hence  in  after 
years  he  was  prompted  to  confess,  "I  never  succeeded  in 
getting  squarely  at  either  end  of  my  class,  in  any  study, 
during  the  four  years." 

The  better  way  to  obtain  an  insight  into  Cadet 
Grant's  life  at  the  Academy — for  this  is  important  in 
considering  the  mystery  of  his  character — is  to  accept 
the  statements  of  men  of  high  standing  who  were  his 
classmates  at  that  time. 

Among  the  young  men  who  registered  at  West  Point 
with  Grant,  and  were  graduated  with  him,  wras  George 
Deshon,  of  Connecticut,  who,  fifteen  years  later  became 
Superior  General  of  the  Paulists,  in  New  York.  When 
the  Independent  asked  Father  Deshon  for  some  recol- 
lections of  Grant,  he  said:  "Grant  was  not  what  we 
called  military.  He  was  careless  in  his  dress,  and  did 
not  pay  much  attention  to  the  minutiae  of  drill.  For 
two  years  we  were  both  high  privates  in  the  company. 
.  .  .  We  had  a  good  many  laughs  about  our  military 
cadet  rank.  He  was  at  the  foot  of  the  list  and  I  was 
next  above  him.  The  next  year  when  the  appointment 
of  cadet  officers  was  made,  he  returned  to  the  rank  of 


THE  WEST  P013T  CADET  25 

private,  and  I  took  foot  of  the  list.  He  had  a  good  head 
for  mathematics  and  other  studies;  but  he  was  not  a 
hard  student.  .  .  .  He  got  a  great  deal  of  demerits 
for  trifling  carelessness  in  military  matters  which  low- 
ered his  general  standing  in  the  class.  .  .  .  He  was 
free  from  all  profanity,  and  his  conversation  was  pure. 
He  did  not  drink  liquor  or  use  tobacco.  One  of  his 
characteristic  traits  was  a  great  straightforwardness  and 
a  scrupulous  regard  for  truth." 

Many  curious  stories  have  been  circulated  relative 
to  Grant's  life  at  the  Academy,  but  as  they  do  not  pos- 
sess authentic  quality  they  cannot  be  used  as  illustrating 
the  character  of  the  real  Grant,  and  therefore  cannot  be 
repeated  here. 

Another  authority  of  high  merit  who  is  well  worth 
quoting  is  Professor  Henry  Coppee :  "The  honor  of  be- 
ing Grant's  comrade  for  two  years  at  the  Academy  en- 
ables me  to  speak  more  intelligently,  perhaps,  than  those 
of  the  'new  school'  who  have  invented  the  most  absurd 
stories  to  illustrate  his  cadet  life.  I  remember  him  as  a 
plain,  common-sense,  straightforward  youth;  shunning 
notoriety;  quite  content  while  others  were  grumbling, 
taking  to  his  military  duties  in  a  business-like  manner ; 
not  a  prominent  man  in  the  corps,  but  respected  by  all. 
His  sobriquet  of  '  Uncle  Sam'  was  given  to  him  there, 
where  every  good  fellow  has  a  nickname,  from  these 
very  qualities.  Indeed  he  was  a  very  uncle-like  sort  of 
a  youth.  He  exhibited  but  little  enthusiasm  in  any- 
thing." 


20  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

If  Cadet  Grant  were  lacking  in  enthusiasm  in  every- 
thing while  in  the  Academy,  he  was  exhibiting  a  char- 
acteristic trait  which  was  inseparable  from  the  man. 
He  was  never  an  enthusiast.  No  one  ever  heard  him 
shout  for  joy,  or  give  sonorous  vent  to  anger.  If  he  were 
not  an  enthusiastic  student  in  most  branches  taught  at 
the  Academy,  he  showed  creditable  advancement  in 
natural  philosophy,  engineering,  mathematics,  and 
horsemanship.  In  a  quiet,  undemonstrative  way  he 
was  unconsciously  preparing  for  one  supreme  hour. 
But  to  the  student  of  human  nature,  and  to  the  keen 
reader  of  character  then  at  the  school,  it  did  seem  that 
between  Cadet  Grant  and  General  Grant,  the  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  the  largest  army  any  republic  ever 
organized,  there  was  an  impassable  gulf. 


V. 

ANECDOTES,  PROPHECIES,  AND  GRADUATION. 

|T  has  already  been  said  that  Cadet  Grant  ex- 
celled in  mathematics  and  horsemanship. 
The  exactitude  of  the  former,  of  whatever 
branch,  gave  him  no  trouble,  and  as  to  the 
latter,  his  skill  and  courage  were  phenomenal. 

Major  General  Jacob  D.  Cox,  commander  of  the 
Twenty-third  Army  Corps  in  the  Civil  War,  says  Grant 
did  not  lack  the  sense  of  humor,  and  though  his  voice 
did  not  possess  volume,  and  seemed  thin  and  high-keyed, 
his  natural  shyness  did  not  prevent  him  from  telling  an 
occasional  story  with  good  effect.  During  the  war  he 
related  an  interesting  experience  in  his  riding  exercise 
at  the  Academy. 

The  riding-master  was  H.  R.  Hershberger,  "an 
amusing  sort  of  a  tyrant,"  and  on  one  occasion,  whether 
seriously  or  as  a  joke,  he  determined  to  "take  down" 
the  young  cadet.  At  the  exercise  Grant  was  mounted 


28  GRANT,  THE  MAX  OF  MYSTERY 

on  a  powerful  but  vicious  brute  that  the  cadets  fought 
shy  of,  and  was  put  at  leaping  the  bar.  The  bar  was 
placed  higher  and  higher  as  he  came  round  the  ring, 
till  it  passed  the  "record."  The  stubborn  rider  would 
not  say  "Enough" ;  but  the  stubborn  horse  was  disposed 
to  shy  and  refuse  to  make  the  leap.  Grant  gritted  his 
teeth  and  spurred  at  it,  but  just  as  the  horse  gathered 
for  the  spring,  his  swelling  body  burst  the  girth,  and  the 
rider  and  saddle  tumbled  into  the  ring.  Half  stunned, 
Grant  gathered  himself  up  from  the  dust  only  to  hear 
"the  strident,  cynical  voice  of  Hershberger  calling  out : 
'Cadet  Grant,  six  demerits  for  dismounting  without 
leave!'" 

But  the  most  graphic  description  of  Grant's  riding 
ability  is  given  by  General  James  B.  Fry,  who  entered 
West  Point  the  year  the  former  was  graduated. 

"One  afternoon  in  June,  1843,  while  I  was  at  West 
Point,  I  wandered  into  the  riding  hall  where  the  mem- 
bers of  the  graduating  class  were  going  through  their 
final  mounted  exercises  before  a  large  assemblage  of 
spectators.  When  the  regular  services  were  completed, 
the  class  was  formed  in  line  through  the  center  of  the 
hall,  the  riding-master  placed  the  leaping  bar  higher 
than  a  man's  head,  and  called  out,  'Cadet  Grant' !  A 
clean-faced,  slender,  blue-eyed  young  fellow,  weighing 
about  one  hundred  and  twenty  pounds,  dashed  from  the 
ranks  on  a  powerfully  built  horse,  and  galloped  down 
the  opposite  side  of  the  hall.  As  he  turned  at  the  far- 
ther end  and  came  into  the  straight  stretch  across  which 


ANECDOTES,   PROPHECIES,   AXD    GRADUATION        29 

the  bar  was  placed,  the  horse  increased  his  pace,  and 
measuring  his  strides  for  the  great  leap  before  him, 
bounded  into  the  air  and  cleared  the  bar,  carrying  his 
rider  as  if  man  and  beast  had  been  welded  together. 
The  spectators  were  breathless !  'Very  well  done,  sir !' 
growled  old  Hershberger." 

The  bar  had  been  placed  six  feet  and  five  inches 
high,  and  was  the  highest  jump  ever  recorded  at  the 
academy,  and  next  to  the  highest  ever  known  in  the 
United  States. 

Two  months  before  Grant's  death,  General  Fry 
visited  him,  and  speaking  of  the  riding  hall  scene,  the 
dying  man  whispered :  "I  remember  that  very  well ; 
York  was  a  wonderful  horse.  I  could  feel  him  gather- 
ing under  me  for  the  effort  as  he  approached  the  bar." 

"Have  you  heard  anything  of  Hershberger,  lately  ?" 
asked  General  Fry.  "Oh,  yes,"  replied  the  General,  "I 
have  heard  of  him  since  the  war.  He  was  at  Carlisle, 
Pennsylvania,  old  and  poor,  and  I  sent  him  a  check  for 
fifty  dollars." 

Time  had  tempered  the  manners  and  toned  down 
the  voice  of  the  once  gruff  old  riding-master,  and  in 
recognition  of  his  former  pupil's  kind  remembrance  of 
him  in  his  shadowy  days,  no  doubt  there  came  from  a 
grateful  heart,  but  in  silent  tones,  "Very  well  done, 
sir !  Very  well  done !" 

Although  Grant's  standing  at  the  academy  did  not 
give  promise  of  a  successful  military  career,  it  was  all- 
sufficient  for  the  work  he  seemed  to  be  foreordained  to 


30  GRAST,  THE  MAX  OF  MYSTERY 

perform.  Hidden  by  an  unmilitary  spirit  and  an  un- 
soldierly  bearing  was  a  surprisingly  large  military  ca- 
pacity. Any  other  training  of  his  peculiar  mind  would 
have  so  changed  his  circumstances  as  to  place  him  in 
entirely  different  relations  to  the  events  which  ulti- 
mately moulded  him  into  the  commander  the  country 
so  much  needed,  when  rebellion  threatened  the  exist- 
ence of  the  Union. 

When  Grant  was  graduated  from  West  Point  in  the 
summer  of  1843,  he  stood  twenty-one  in  a  class  of 
thirty-nine.  Perhaps  he  would  have  stood  a  little 
higher  had  he  not  contracted  a  severe  cough  some  six 
months  prior  to  graduation,  which  greatly  interfered 
with  his  studies. 

There  was  an  indefinable  something  in  Cadet  Grant 
which  attracted  the  attention  of  a  few  keen  observers 
at  the  school.  To  those  his  personality  was  somewhat 
of  a  magnet.  There  was  a  mystery  about  him  of  pecu- 
liar attractiveness  to  those  who  got  close  enough  to  him 
to  read  him  best.  And  a  conscientious  biographer  hesi- 
tates to  quote  some  of  the  alleged  prophecies  made  by 
those  who  knew  Grant  at  West  Point,  lest  they  might 
have  had  their  origin  after  he  had  won  the  applause  of 
the  world.  Such  stock-stories,  like  those  about  Lincoln, 
being  easily  made,  are  numerous.  But  the  following 
incident  is  authenticated  by  General  Eliakin  P.  Scam- 
mon,  professor  of  ethics  at  the  academy  from  1841  till 
1846: 

The  night  after  Grant's  class  was  graduated,  Pro- 


ANECDOTES,  PROPHECIES,  AND  GRADUATION         31 

fessor  Charles  Davies,  the  eminent  mathematician,  and 
teacher  in  the  academy  at  the  time,  asked  Scammon 
whom  he  considered  the  brightest  man  in  the  class. 
Scammon  answered:  "I  suppose  the  brightest  mind  is 
the  one  that  carries  off  the  highest  honors."  "You  are 
wrong,"  replied  Davies.  "I  tell  you  the  smartest  man 
in  the  class  is  little  Grant."  Professor  Davies  con- 
tended that  it  was  Grant's  untidiness  that  brought  down 
his  average  standing,  and  not  poverty  of  intellectual 
capacity. 

To  this  chapter  may  well  be  added  the  statement  of 
an  unknown  writer :  West  Point,  in  making  the  gift  of 
this  one  cadet,  has  paid  back  all  the  cost  it  has  incurred 
since  its  foundation  one  hundred  and  thirteen  years  ago. 


VI. 

IN  THE  MEXICAN  WAR. 

his  graduation,  Cadet  Grant  met  with  a 
defeat  hardly  less  severe  than  the  failure 
of  Congress  to  pass  the  bill  to  abolish  the 
Military  Academy.  He  tells  us  that  the 
members  of  the  graduating  class  were  privileged  to 
record  their  choice  of  arms  and  service  and  regiment. 
Having  a  fondness  for  horses,  though  his  native  mod- 
esty excluded  any  self -appreciation  of  the  matchless 
record  he  made  with  old  York,  he  preferred  the  cavalry. 
At  that  time  there  was  only  one  regiment  of  cavalry  in 
the  service  and  no  vacancy  for  a  commissioned  officer 
existed  when  his  choice  was  recorded,  and  therefore  he 
was  assigned  to  the  Fourth  Infantry  as  a  brevet  second 
lieutenant.  He  joined  the  regiment  at  Jefferson  Bar- 
racks, near  St.  Louis,  in  the  latter  part  of  September, 
1843,  and  when  the  trouble  with  Mexico  began,  an  op- 


IN  THE  MEXICAN  WAR  33 

portunity  was  given  him  to  show  how  he  would  behave 
in  time  of  battle. 

But  there  is  another  incident  in  the  life  of  this 
young  officer  which  should  be  given  before  proceeding 
further.  It  is  curious  how  things  failed  to  work  to- 
gether to  meet  the  hopes  and  aspirations  of  his  early 
life.  Hardly  anything  went  exactly  his  way.  He 
planned,  but  a  power  unseen  disposed.  When  he  ar- 
rived at  Jefferson  Barracks  it  was  his  firm  purpose  not 
to  remain  in  the  army.  He  could  not  warm  up  to  the 
profession  of  arms.  He  saw  nothing  in  it  for  one  of  his 
temperament  and  bent  of  mind.  So  he  resolved  to  pre- 
pare himself  for  the  chair  of  mathematics  in  some  col- 
lege, preferably  a  professorship  in  the  military 
academy.  He  wrote  a  letter  to  Professor  Church  at 
West  Point,  asking  to  become  his  assistant  when  the 
next  detail  should  be  made.  The  answer  was  satisfac- 
tory, and  the  lieutenant  was  hopeful.  He  began  to  re- 
view his  West  Point  course,  but  this  was  as  far  as  he 
ever  got  towards  the  goal  of  his  ambition.  As  "the 
stars  in  their  courses  fought  against  Sisera,"  so  the 
course  of  events  defeated  all  his  cherished  plans  to  es- 
cape an  army  life.  The  trouble  with  Mexico  began  be- 
fore Professor  Church  saw  an  opportunity  to  give  the 
lieutenant  an  assistant  professorship,  and  his  hope  of 
ever  being  ordered  to  the  academy  vanished  forever. 

Lieutenant  Grant's  regiment  was  assigned  to  Gen- 
eral Zachary  Taylor's  command  in  Mexico,  and  in  Sep- 
tember, 1845,  he  received  a  full  commission  as  second 


34  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

lieutenant;  and  it  is  claimed  that  he  had  a  speedier 
baptism  of  fire  than  most  West  Point  graduates.  It  is 
certain  that  he  saw  much  service  during  the  twenty 
months  of  hostilities ;  and  is  credited  with  being  in  all 
the  battles  during  that  period  in  which  it  was  possible 
for  any  one  man  to  be  engaged. 

It  was  at  the  battle  of  Palo  Alto,  May  8th,  1846, 
that  Lieutenant  Grant  first  saw  the  shedding  of  blood 
on  the  battlefield.  He  was  also  at  Resaca  de  la  Palma 
on  the  following  day,  after  which  Taylor's  little  army 
moved  to  Matamoros,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Rio 
Grande,  and  here  belongs  a  significant  quotation  from 
the  Memoirs : 

"Among  the  troops  that  joined  us  at  Matamoros  was 
the  Twenty-third  Ohio,  of  which  Thomas  L.  Hamer,  the 
member  of  Congress  who  had  given  me  my  appoint- 
ment to  West  Point,  was  major.  ...  I  have  said 
before  that  Hamer  was  one  of  the  ablest  men  Ohio  ever 
produced.  ...  I  have  always  believed  that  had 
his  life  been  spared  he  would  have  been  President  of 
the  United  States  during  the  term  filled  by  President 
Pierce.  Had  Hamer  filled  that  oifice  his  partiality  for 
me  was  such  that  there  is  little  doubt  I  should  have  been 
appointed  to  one  of  the  staff  corps  of  the  army,  the  Pay 
Department  probably,  and  would  therefore  now  (1884) 
be  preparing  to  retire.  Neither  of  these  speculations  is 
unreasonable,  and  they  are  mentioned  to  show  how  lit- 
tle men  control  their  own  destiny." 

When  General  Taylor  was  preparing  to  move  his 


IN  THE  MEXICAN  WAR  35 

army  at  the  close  of  the  summer  of  1846,  to  Monterey 
in  Northern  Mexico,  it  became  quite  evident  that  a 
competent  quartermaster  was  as  necessary  for  a  regi- 
ment as  a  gallant  colonel,  and  it  is  significant  that 
Grant,  ranking  only  as  a  second  lieutenant,  should  be 
detailed  as  quartermaster  and  commissary  of  the  Fourth 
Infantry.  Of  course  Grant  was  not  pleased  with  the 
detail.  It  was  an  ideal  position  for  an  officer  who  pre- 
ferred not  to  get  dangerously  near  the  enemy's  guns; 
but  with  Lieutenant  Grant  it  was  different.  As  much 
as  he  disliked  the  profession  of  arms,  the  closer  he  got 
to  the  enemy  when  a  battle  was  on,  the  more  comfort- 
able he  felt.  The  firing  line  did  more  than  anything 
else  to  warm  his  blood.  It  made  him  feel  as  if  he  were 
doing  something  worth  while.  He  got  the  appointment 
because  the  colonel  of  the  regiment  knew  that  in  all  the 
vexations  attending  the  administration  of  such  an  office, 
Lieutenant  Grant  would  hold  himself  together.  He  had 
learned  from  his  mother  that  an  ounce  of  patience  is 
worth  more  than  a  pound  of  passion ;  and  never  having 
used  profane  expletives  to  give  emphasis  to  his  action, 
lie  did  not  change  his  habit  of  being  a  gentleman  even 
when  managing  the  refractory  Mexican  mules  which 
composed  the  pack-train. 

But  Lieutenant  Grant  was  in  the  war  to  fight  and 
not  to  contend  with  the  proverbial  stubbornness  of  the 
army  mule ;  so  after  being  detailed  as  quartermaster,  he 
thought  he  owed  his  parents  an  apology  for  accepting 
the  position,  and  he  wrote  them  these  lines :  "I  do  not 


36  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

mean  you  shall  ever  hear  of  my  shirking  my  duty  in 
battle.  My  new  post  as  quartermaster  is  considered  to 
afford  an  officer  an  opportunity  to  be  relieved  from 
fighting,  but  I  do  not,  and  cannot,  see  it  in  that  light. 
You  have  always  taught  me  that  the  post  of  danger  is 
the  post  of  duty." 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  characteristic  note,  and  the 
events  related  in  the  next  chapter,  that  Lieutenant 
Grant  was  an  anomaly  very  early  in  his  military  career. 
As  keenly  as  he  felt  he  was  out  of  his  proper  sphere  as 
an  army  officer,  he  seems  to  have  been  a  born  fighter  in 
war.  The  whizzing  of  bullets  or  the  screaming  of  shells 
was  not  less  dreadful  to  him  than  the  shrill  note  of 
the  fife  or  the  rattle  of  the  drum,  for  which  he  had  a 
great  dislike.  He  was  more  at  ease  with  himself  in  the 
fighting  column  than  in  the  quartermaster's  tent ;  more 
content  to  test  his  courage  on  the  line  of  duty  and 
danger,  than  to  flatter  himself  that  he  could  serve  his 
government  just  as  well  behind  a  barricade  of  com- 
missary stores.  The  old  saying  that  all  men  would  be 
cowards  if  they  durst,  was  not  true  of  this  young  quar- 
termaster. It  would  seem  that  the  idea  that  "courage  is 
an  essential  of  high  character,"  was  born  in  the  man. 


VII. 
A  FIGHTING  QUARTERMASTER. 

HE  army  which  left  Matamoros  in  the  latter 
part  of  August,  1846,  invested  Monterey  in 
September.     The  fight  which  began  on  the 
21st  of  the  month  continued  for  three  days, 
when  the  city  and  garrison  surrendered. 

"Take  all  the  swift  advantage  of  the  hour,"  says 
Shakespeare.  Quartermaster  Grant  did  this  at  Mon- 
terey. He  left  his  mules  and  commissary  stores,  pre- 
sumably in  charge  of  another  officer,  and  took  part  in 
the  battle.  When  fighting  had  to  be  done  it  was  a 
stimulant  for  him  to  take  a  part  in  it.  It  was  at  Mon- 
terey that  he  had  a  fortunate  opportunity  to  exemplify 
his  skill  as  a  horseman.  In  all  his  military  career  he 
never  neglected  an  opportunity  to  do  something. 

Colonel  John  Garland,  a  veteran  of  the  war  of  1812, 
was  in  command  of  a  brigade  at  Monterey,  and  in  one 
stage  of  the  battle,  when  his  supply  of  powder  became 


38  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

alarmingly  low,  it  was  necessary  to  send  a  message  to 
General  Twiggs,  commanding  the  division,  or  to  Gen- 
eral Taylor,  for  immediate  relief.  Between  Garland's 
brigade  and  the  positions  held  by  Taylor  and  Twiggs, 
the  street  crossings  were  swept  by  the  enemy's  guns, 
hence  the  ride  was  so  fraught  with  danger  that  the 
Colonel  hesitated  to  make  a  detail  to  carry  the  message, 
and  called  for  a  volunteer.  There  was  never  a  tremor 
in  Quartermaster  Grant's  courage.  To  be  the  first  one 
to  volunteer  to  run  the  gauntlet  of  the  Mexican  bullets 
was  a  natural  thing  for  him  to  do.  It  was  a  diversion 
he  had  long  sought  for.  He  borrowed  a  trick  from  the 
Indians,  and  hanging  by  the  horse's  mane  upon  his  side, 
he  galloped  at  full  speed  in  safety  past  the  fire  of  the 
enemy,  and  delivered  the  message. 

The  Fourth  Infantry  remained  at  Monterey  until 
winter,  when  it  became  a  part  of  the  army  under  the 
immediate  command  of  General  Winfield  Scott,  and 
this  change  from  the  army  of  Taylor,  the  "Old  Rough 
and  Ready"  of  the  Mexican  War,  prevented  Quarter- 
master Grant  from  taking  part  in  the  battle  at  Buena 
Vista  (February  22,  1847),  the  only  important  engage- 
ment in  Mexico  in  which  infantry  was  employed  that 
he  escaped. 

After  the  fall  of  Vera  Cruz,  March  29,  1847,  Scott's 
army  began  a  bold  movement  towards  the  City  of  Mex- 
ico, a  distance  of  more  than  two  hundred  miles  by  the 
marching  route.  The  first  encounter  that  took  place 
between  the  opposing  forces  was  at  Cerro  Gordo,  a 


A  FIGHTING  QUARTERMASTER  39 

mountain  pass,  and  the  contest  for  the  right  of  way  be- 
gan on  the  18th  of  April,  1847.  Scott  had  8,500  men, 
and  Santa  Anna  12,000.  The  pass  was  so  deep  that 
"artillery  was  let  down  the  steep  slopes  by  hand,  the 
men  attaching  a  strong  rope  to  the  rear  axle  and  letting 
the  guns  down,  a  piece  at  a  time."  It  was  a  winning 
fight  for  the  Americans,  Santa  Anna  making  his  re- 
treat on  the  19th  and  pushing  for  his  capital,  the  City 
of  Mexico.  • 

Strange  indeed  are  the  chances  and  changes  which 
take  place  in  the  affairs  of  men!  In  this  battle  of 
Cerro  Gordo  were  Lieutenant  George  B.  McClellan, 
and  Captain  Robert  E.  Lee  of  the  engineer  corps,  and 
Lieutenant  Pierre  G.  J.  Beauregard.  What  a  mighty 
event  time  brought  forth  exactly  eighteen  years  and  ten 
days  from  the  taking  of  the  mountain  pass !  In  human 
history  nothing  has  been  written  to  surpass  it  in  wonder. 

After  the  capture  of  Cerro  Gordo,  Scott  moved  his 
army  towards  the  City  of  Mexico,  and  the  first  engage- 
ment of  a  distinguishing  character  was  at  Molino-del 
Key,  September  8,  1847,  General  Worth  being  in  im- 
mediate command  of  the  forces  engaged.  The  place  is 
four  miles  from  the  City  of  Mexico;  and  had  several 
massive  stone  buildings  used  as  mills  and  foundries. 
The  battle  was  one  of  the  hardest  of  the  war,  and  both 
sides  suffered  severely. 

The  Americans  fought  this  battle  against  great  dis- 
advantages. The  mills  and  foundries  were  strongly 
guarded  within  by  Mexican  soldiers,  and  the  ground  in 


40  GRANT,  THE  MAX  OF  MYSTERY 

front  was  commanded  by  the  artillery  from  the  summit 
of  Chapultepec,  not  more  than  half  a  mile  away.  The 
only  course  left  for  General  Worth  was  to  charge  the 
mills  and  foundries ;  so  early  in  the  morning  the  com- 
mand was  given,  and  with  sublime  courage  the  men 
rushed  forward  in  the  face  of  a  galling  fire,  and  when 
they  had  reached  the  buildings  the  Mexicans  were  re- 
treating to  the  castle  on  the  hill  of  Chapultepec. 

Quartermaster  Grant  could  not  keep  out  of  the  fight. 
He  joined  his  company  when  the  charge  was  ordered, 
and  was  among  the  first  of  the  officers  to  enter  the  mills. 
His  every  movement  connected  with  the  capture  of 
Molino  del  Rey  displayed  exceptional  alertness  and 
bravery. 

The  retreat  of  the  enemy  to  Chapultepec  made 
another  battle  inevitable.  General  Pillow,  who  gained 
some  notoriety  during  the  Civil  War,  commanded  the 
charge  which  was  made  on  the  13th  of  September,  1847, 
and  which  was  one  of  remarkable  sharpness  and  daring. 
When  Quartermaster  Grant  was  reconnoitering  during 
the  latter  part  of  the  day,  and  while  the  storming  of 
Chapultepec  was  severest,  he  spied  a  church  with  a  bel- 
fry. This  discovery  at  once  suggested  a  novel  idea. 
He  thought  if  a  howitzer  could  be  hauled  up  into  the 
belfry  its  shots  would  reach  the  enemy.  A  howitzer 
was  soon  obtained,  and  although  the  difficulties  in  reach- 
ing the  church  were  embarrassing,  the  little  engine  of 
war  was  taken  apart,  carried  by  men  to  the  belfry,  and 
its  parts  replaced.  The  position  was  about  three  hun- 


A   FIGHTING   QUARTERMASTER  41 

dred  yards  from  the  gate  of  San  Cosme.  The  gun  was 
put  in  operation  by  Quartermaster  Grant,  and  every 
time  it  barked,  its  deadly  shot  startled  the  Mexicans  in 
the  castle.  General  Worth  was  so  much  pleased  with 
the  heroism  and  ingenuity  of  the  quartermaster,  that 
after  the  capture  of  Chapultepec  he  dispatched  a  staff 
officer  to  him  with  the  request  that  he  report  to  division 
headquarters,  where  the  general  thanked  him  cordially 
for  the  valuable  service  he  had  rendered  in  the  assault. 
The  staff  officer  was  Captain  John  C.  Pemberton ;  and 
fate — but  rather,  that  Power  that  shapes  the  coming  of 
all  great  events — decreed  that  when  those  two  young 
officers,  the  quartermaster  and  the  captain,  should  next 
meet  on  official  business,  it  would  be  under  immeasur- 
ably different  conditions,  and  the  place  was  Vicksburg, 
and  the  date  July  4,  1863. 

The  capture  of  Chapultepec  practically  ended  the 
war  with  Mexico,  and  Scott  entered  the  capital  on  the 
14th  of  September,  1847. 

Speaking  of  those  times  Grant  says  he  had  gone 
into  the  battle  of  Palo  Alto  in  May,  1846,  a  second 
lieutenant,  and  entered  the  City  of  Mexico  sixteen 
months  later  with  the  same  rank,  and  had  been  in  all 
the  engagements  possible  for  any  one  man,  and  in  a 
regiment  that  lost  more  officers  during  the  war  than  it 
ever  had  present  in  any  one  battle.  And  one  can  read 
between  the  lines  of  his  story  a  feeling  of  disappoint- 
ment in  not  having  been  promoted.  He  was  a  man  of 
much  reserve,  not  ambitious,  never  a  grumbler,  and  al- 


42  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

ways  exhibited  the  highest  standard  of  efficiency  in  the 
service.  But  he  was  human,  and  would  have  been 
filled  with  gratitude  had  his  services  been  adequately 
recognized.  He  was  made  a  first  lieutenant  for  bravery 
at  Molino  del  Rey,  and  for  pouring  hot  shot  into  the 
Mexican  ranks  from  the  church  steeple  at  Chapultepec 
he  was  breveted  captain,  which  carried  no  additional 
pay  and  was  a  small  acknowledgement  compared  with 
his  achievements. 

It  is  curious  enough,  if  the  records  be  true,  that 
Lieutenant  Grant  appears  to  have  made  no  deep  impres- 
sion upon  those  about  him ;  an  exception,  perhaps,  was 
the  gracious  acknowledgement  by  General  Worth.  But 
when  Grant  became  famous,  General  Scott  said  he  could 
only  remember  him  in  the  Mexican  War  as  a  young 
lieutenant  of  undaunted  courage,  but  giving  no  promise 
of  anything  beyond  ordinary  ability. 


VIII. 
THE  LIEUTENANT  BECAME  A  BENEDICT. 

FTER  peace  was  declared,  Lieutenant 
Grant  continued  to  hold  the  position  of 
quartermaster,  and  remained  in  Mexico 
until  the  summer  of  1848,  when  the  regi- 
ment was  ordered  to  Pascagoula,  Mississippi.  While 
here  he  obtained  a  leave  of  absence  for  the  purpose  of 
making  an  eventful  visit  to  St.  Louis.  During  the  en- 
campment of  the  Fourth  Infantry  at  Jefferson  Bar- 
racks, previous  to  the  outbreak  of  the  war  with  Mexico, 
Lieutenant  Grant  visited  the  family  of  Frederick 
Dent,  who  lived  on  a  farm  five  miles  west  of  the  city. 
Frederick  T.,  a  son  of  Mr.  Dent,  was  a  roommate  of 
Grant  at  the  Academy,  and  when  the  two  young  officers 
were,  assigned  to  the  same  regiment,  it  was  quite  in  keep- 
ing with  their  friendly  relationship  that  Grant  should 
be  invited  to  visit  the  Dent  home,  where  he  became 
acquainted  with  his  comrade's  eldest  sister,  Miss  Julia. 


44  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

A  warm  friendship  was  formed  between  them,  which 
soon  ripened  into  love;  an  engagement  followed,  and 
their  marriage  was  celebrated  August  22,  1848. 

The  Dents  were  well-to-do  people.  The  bride  was 
born  and  reared  in  a  slave  state,  and  her  attendant  in 
childhood  and  young  womanhood  was  a  slave  belonging 
to  the  household.  It  was  natural  therefore  that  the 
family  should  be  imbued,  in  some  degree,  with  the  spirit 
of  the  South,  while  the  groom  could  not  be  otherwise 
than  thoroughly  Northern  in  his  sympathies.  But 
there  was  a  lot  of  good  sense  as  well  as  natural  affection 
at  the  bottom  of  the  marriage ;  and  although  the  lieu- 
tenant was  receiving  hardly  more  than  a  thousand  a 
year,  and  with  little  hope  of  immediate  advancement, 
he  was  welcomed  most  cordially  to  the  circle  of  the  Dent 
family. 

When  the  leave  of  absence  of  four  months  which  had 
been  granted  Lieutenant  Grant  had  expired,  he  was  ac- 
companied by  his  wife  in  joining  his  regiment  at  Sack- 
ett's  Harbor,  on  Lake  Ontario,  sixty  miles  north  of 
Syracuse,  N.  Y.  It  was  in  former  years  an  important 
naval  station,  and  it  was  here  that  the  Americans  re- 
pulsed the  British  in  May,  1813.  Grant  had  been  so 
efficient  as  quartermaster  of  his  regiment  in  the  war 
with  Mexico,  that  he  was  requested  to  retain  the  same 
position  at  Sackett's  Harbor. 

The  occupation  of  the  Harbor  by  the  Fourth  In- 
fantry was  brief,  the  regiment  being  ordered  to  the  gar- 
rison at  Detroit  in  the  spring  of  1849.  Holding  a  gar- 


THE  LIEUTENANT  BECAME  A  BENEDICT  45 

rison  when  nothing  is  to  be  done  but  to  perform  the  rou- 
tine duties  of  an  inactive  army  life  is  dull  enough  at 
best,  but  perhaps  the  most  enjoyable  of  any  period  of 
Grant's  connection  with  the  army  in  those  days  was  at 
Detroit.  He  has  very  little  to  say  of  events  of  that  time, 
owing  to  the  fact  that  his  turn  of  mind  was  too  practi- 
cal to  make  much  ado  about  the  social  side  of  camp  life. 
Gossip,  which  is  not  worth  repeating,  is  abundant 
enough,  but  history  pertaining  to  matters  of  real  con- 
cern is  very  scant.  Mrs.  Grant  remained  with  her  hus- 
band continuously,  excepting  for  a  few  months  in  the 
spring  of  1850,  when  she  visited  her  old  home  in  St. 
Louis,  where  Frederick  Dent  Grant,  now  a  major  gen- 
eral in  the  regular  army,  was  born  on  May  30th  of  that 
year. 

Then,  as  now,  a  regiment  in  the  regular  service  had 
no  abiding  place.  After  the  Fourth  Infantry  had  re- 
mained at  Detroit  two  years,  and  for  a  short  time  was 
retransferred  to  Sackett's  Harbor,  it  was  ordered  to  the 
Pacific  Coast  by  the  way  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama. 
The  distance  was  so  long,  and  the  movement  was  at- 
tended with  so  much  hardship  and  danger  to  health, 
that  Mrs.  Grant  could  not  accompany  her  husband. 
Therefore  arrangements  were  made  for  her  to  spend 
some  time  with  the  Lieutenant's  parents  at  Bethel, 
Ohio,  to  which  the  family  had  removed  while  the  son 
was  at  the  military  academy. 

The  regiment  sailed  from  New  York  on  the  5th  of 
July,  1852,  ar.d  arrived  at  Aspinwall  (now  called 


46  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

Colon)  close  to  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  When  we 
want  a  striking  illustration  of  Lieutenant  Grant's  cool- 
headedness,  never-failing  patience,  and  peculiar  fitness 
for  the  responsible  position  of  quartermaster  in  time  of 
great  emergency,  we  must  turn  to  his  record  on  this 
memorable  expedition  of  the  Fourth  Infantry.  All 
kinds  of  hampering  difficulties  were  in  store  for  the 
troops  when  they  reached  Colon.  Cholera  was  almost 
an  epidemic.  The  season  was  excessively  wet.  The 
heat  was  intensely  debilitating.  Deaths  were  num- 
bered by  the  score.  With  the  incidents  of  those  trying 
times  firmly  held  in  the  mind,  Grant  wrote  many  years 
afterwards:  "I  wondered  how  any  person  could  live 
many  months  in  Aspinwall,  and  wonder  still  more  why 
anyone  tried." 

The  quartermaster  ministered  to  the  sick  as  well  as 
provided  food  for  the  regiment.  He  was  the  busiest 
officer  in  the  command,  and  the  best  tempered.  In  the 
midst  of  confusion,  complaints,  suffering,  sickness,  and 
death,  he  was  the  same  patient,  tireless  man  and  heroic 
spirit.  I  know  of  no  period  of  Grant's  first  connection 
with  the  army  that  reveals  the  true  character  of  the  man 
more  impressively  than  the  performance  of  his  duty  as 
quartermaster  while  crossing  the  Isthmus,  where  one- 
seventh  of  the  members  of  the  Fourth  Infantry  who  left 
New  York  on  the  5th  of  July  lie  buried.  During  the 
stress  and  strain  of  that  movement  he  displayed  many 
of  the  qualities  of  the  real  Grant — courage,  quick  per- 
ception, ceaseless  energy,  sympathy  for  the  suffering, 


THE  LIEUTENANT  BECAME  A  BENEDICT  47 

and  ability  to  deal  promptly  and  thoroughly  with  every 
problem  which  confronted  him.  This  condition  of 
things  brought  out  an  entirely  different  phase  of  char- 
acter from  that  displayed  in  Mexico.  There,  he  was  a 
persistent  fighter ;  on  the  Isthmus  he  showed  uncommon 
courage  in  contending  with  malignant  disease,  strength 
to  endure  privation,  ability  to  work  incessantly  for  the 
relief  of  suffering,  and  a  touching  self-sacrifice  for  the 
welfare  of  the  common  soldier  dependent  upon  him  for 
food  and  shelter. 


IX. 

COAST  LIFE -THE  "PARTING  OF  THE  WAY." 

|  HEN  the  Fourth  Infantry  reached  San 
Francisco  it  occupied  the  Benician  Bar- 
racks for  a  few  weeks,  and  was  then  ordered 
to  Fort  Vancouver,  on  the  Columbia  River, 
opposite  Portland,  Oregon,  and  while  there  Lieutenant 
Grant  filled  the  position  of  Post  Quartermaster.  Con- 
cerning this  period  of  his  service  on  the  Pacific  coast, 
little  can  be  said.  There  was  no  particular  trouble  with 
the  Indians  in  this  section  of  the  coast,  and  therefore 
the  chief  employment  of  the  regiment  was  the  routine 
of  barrack  life. 

Grant  had  been  first  lieutenant  and  quartermaster 
since  the  last  battle  was  fought  in  Mexico,  and  was  wait- 
ing, though  not  without  seeming  impatience,  for  pro- 
motion. It  was  not  till  September,  1853,  when  he  had 
been  in  the  army  ten  years,  that  he  received  informa- 
tion that  the  War  Department  at  Washington  had  pro- 


COAST  LIFE— THE  "PARTING  OF  THE  WAY"  49 

uioted  him  to  a  captaincy,  and  had  assigned  him  to 
Company  F,  Fourth  Infantry,  the  detachment  at  that 
time  being  stationed  at  Humboldt  Bay,  nearly  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles  north  of  San  Francisco. 

Taking  Grant  himself  as  authority,  he  very  soon  de- 
parted for  his  new  command  and  reached  Humboldt 
Bay  some  time  in  October.  Here  his  own  story  of  his 
services  on  the  Pacific  Coast  ends  abruptly.  He  does 
not  give  a  single  line  relative  to  his  life  at  Humboldt,  a 
period  of  seven  months.  They  were,  however,  months 
of  great  moment,  and  had  much  to  do  with  shaping  his- 
tory. But  those  who  knew  Grant's  temperament  will 
hardly  be  surprised  at  the  omission. 

Grant  was  not  a  Franklin  in  writing  an  autobiog- 
raphy. The  great  philosopher,  diplomat,  scientist, 
could  keep  nothing  back  when  he  wrote  the  inimitable 
story  of  his  own  life.  But  the  great  campaigner,  the 
man  of  action  and  of  invincible  will,  while  deeply  af- 
fected by  the  experiences  at  Humboldt,  was  so  reticent 
concerning  all  that  pertained  to  his  personal  life,  that 
it  is  difficult  to  get  at  the  inside  history  of  those  seven 
months. 

Humboldt  Barracks  was  a  dreary  place.  To  Cap- 
tain Grant  military  life  in  such  an  isolated  spot  was 
monotonous  in  the  extreme.  If  there  had  been  Indians 
to  fight,  or  a  regiment  to  feed,  he  would  have  felt  dif- 
ferently. But  the  amusements,  common  in  a  lazy  bar- 
rack life,  in  which  other  officers  would  freely  indulge, 
did  not  appeal  to  the  Captain.  He  was  a  sober-minded, 


50  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

shy,  domestic  man,  and  when  not  actively  employed  he 
had  intense  longing  for  home,  and  it  seems  that  he  had 
lost  his  grip  on  himself.  It  was  a  common  matter  for 
many  army  officers  to  live  a  convivial  life  in  such  cir- 
cumstances. But  it  was  different  with  Captain  Grant. 

Once  we  saw  this  intrepid  soul  displaying  wonder- 
ful fearlessness  in  the  Mexican  War.  We  beheld  his 
admirable  heroism  and  patience  on  the  expedition  across 
the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  But  at  Humboldt,  to  use  a 
figurative  expression,  he  was  flat  on  the  ground.  Will 
power  had  gone  from  him,  so  had  hope.  It  does  not 
touch  the  nerve  of  the  case  to  say  that  Captain  Grant 
ought  to  have  braced  up.  The  best  of  men  are  not  al- 
ways at  their  best.  When  chained  to  inertia  and  cramp- 
ing conditions,  from  which  there  seems  to  be  no  escape, 
they  break  down. 

The  commander  of  the  detachment  at  Humboldt 
was  Eobert  C.  Buchanan  of  the  Fourth  Infantry.  He 
was  a  severe  disciplinarian,  and  strong  in  his  prejudices. 
He  seems  to  have  expressed  no  good  will  for  the  Cap- 
tain, and  did  not  at  any  time  take  cognizance  of  his 
reputable  record  as  an  officer.  With  such  a  commander 
at  Fort  Humboldt  the  condition  became  unbearable  to 
the  Captain,  and  his  eager  desire  for  the  companionship 
of  his  wife  and  children  was  intensified.  And  it  can  well 
be  imagined  that  there  is  deep  pathos  in  the  story  of  his 
seven  months  at  Humboldt.  The  passing  of  thirty 
years  had  not  effaced  from  his  memory  the  humiliation 
he  suffered  during  that  period.  All  he  has  to  say  in 


COAST  LIFE— THE  "PARTING  OF  THE  WAY"  51 

the  Memoirs  pertaining  to  his  resignation  from  the 
army  is  composed  of  fifty-one  words :  "I  saw  no  chance 
of  supporting  them  (his  family)  on  the  Pacific  Coast 
out  of  my  pay  as  an  army  officer.  I  concluded,  there- 
fore, to  resign,  and  in  March  (1854)  applied  for  a 
leave  of  absence  until  the  end  of  July  following,  ten- 
dering my  resignation  to  take  effect  at  the  end  of  that 
time."  The  resignation  was  dated  April  11,  1854,  and 
on  the  2d  of  July  it  was  accepted  by  Jefferson  Davis, 
then  Secretary  of  War. 

We  have  now  come  to  "the  parting  of  the  way"  in 
Captain  Grant's  service  in  the  old  army.  His  resigna- 
tion apparently  made  him  like  a  piece  of  driftwood  on 
the  sea  of  life. 

Happily  there  is  another  side  to  the  dismal  story  of 
his  leaving  the  army  which  brings  to  full  view  some  of 
the  substantial  qualities  of  the  real  man.  It  is  like  the 
silver  lining  to  a  storm  cloud.  Although  his  months  at 
Humboldt  were  a  dead-drag,  and  he  suffered  terribly 
from  the  relentless  prejudice  and  harshness  of  his  com- 
mander, he  had  the  precious  faculty  of  keeping  his 
temper  under  control.  Tinder  those  melancholy  condi- 
tions he  was  the  same  clean,  frank,  honest,  true  gentle- 
man. 

At  a  "Grant  meeting"  of  the  California  Command- 
ery  of  the  Military  Order  of  the  Loyal  Legion  of  the 
United  States,  held  in  San  Francisco  in  January  1897, 
General  W.  H.  L.  Barnes  related  a  very  remarkable 
story,  one  without  parallel  in  the  life  of  any  other  dis- 


52  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

tinguished  military  leader  known  to  history.  The  story 
is  taken  from  the  journal  of  Captain  Richard  L.  Ogden, 
who,  in  1854,  was  clerk  in  the  office  of  the  United  States 
quartermaster  in  San  Francisco.  I  quote  that  which 
comes  directly  from  Captain  Ogden's  record : 

"As  I  was  about  to  close  the  office  a  shabbily  dressed 
person  came  in  and  inquired  for  Major  Allen  (quarter- 
master) who  had  just  left.  He  then  produced  a  certifi- 
cate for  per  diem  service  on  a  court  martial  for  forty 
dollars ;  but  it  was  incorrectly  drawn  and  therefore  void, 
of  which  fact  I  informed  him.  His  countenance  fell 
and  he  turned  to  leave  the  office,  then  hesitated  a  mo- 
ment, and  turning  back,  asked  me  if  I  would  allow  him 
to  sleep  on  the  old  lounge  in  Major  Allen's  room,  say- 
ing that  he  had  not  a  cent  to  his  name.  I  said:  'You 
need  not  do  that;  here  is  a  dollar  for  your  lodging.' 
He  replied:  'I  am  greatly  obliged,  but  with  your  per- 
mission I  will  use  the  money  for  my  breakfast  and  din- 
ner, and  the  lounge  will  save  me  the  dollar.'  So,  on  the 
rickety  old  lounge  I  found  him  early  in  the  morning, 
and  when  I  said,  'You  must  have  had  a  hard  bed/  he 
answered:  'Oh  no,  I  slept  well  and  saved  my  dollar.' ' 

Captain  Grant  told  Ogden  that  the  certificate  was  of 
much  importance  to  him  as  he  depended  upon  it  to  pay 
his  steerage  passage  east.  Ogden's  sympathy  had  been 
awakened,  and  he  said  he  would  cash  the  certificate 
himself.  This  being  done,  Captain  Grant  said :  "I  am 
greatly  obliged  to  you  for  this  favor,  and  now  I  must 
go  and  get  my  ticket."  "It  occurred  to  me,"  says  Cap- 


COAST  LIFE— THE  "PARTING  OF  THE  WAY"          53 

tain  Ogden,  "that  I  could  help  him.  Walking  together 
we  went  over  to  the  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  office,  and 
leaving  the  Captain  outside,  I  explained  to  Mr.  Bab- 
cock  the  condition  of  things,  and  told  him  that  I  wanted 
as  near  a  free  pass  as  he  could  give  in  the  cabin.  He 
called  to  Mr.  Havens,  the  ticket  clerk,  and  gave  orders 
to  issue  a  cabin  ticket  on  payment  of  the  regular  fare 
across  the  Isthmus,  which  was  tantamount  to  a  free  pass 
to  New  York. 

"When  I  told  Captain  Grant  of  my  success  he  was 
exceedingly  grateful,  as  the  arrangement  would  leave 
him  about  fifteen  dollars  on  his  arrival  in  New  York. 
When  I  showed  him  his  stateroom,  he  said:  'This  is  a 
great  luxury,  and  what  I  did  not  expect.  The  prospect 
of  ever  being  able  to  reciprocate  is  certainly  remote, 
but  strange  things  happen  in  this  world,  and  there  is  no 
knowing.' ' 

After  Captain  Grant  arrived  in  New  York,  he  paid 
a  visit  to  Sackett's  Harbor,  and  returned  to  the  city  as 
penniless  as  when  he  had  asked  permission  to  sleep  on 
Major  Allen's  couch.  Learning  that  Captain  S.  B. 
Buckner,  his  classmate  at  West  Point,  was  doing  re- 
cruiting service  in  the  city,  he  sought  him  out,  and  con- 
fided to  him  his  financial  distress.  Captain  Buckner 
graciously  offered  to  become  responsible  for  his  hotel 
expenses  incurred  during  his  stay  in  New  York;  and 
history  seldom  records  a  stranger  story  than  when  these 
two  old  comrades  next  met  to  shake  a  friendly  hand. 

A  few  days  after  this  incident  Captain  Grant  re- 


54  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

ceived  money  from  home  which  enabled  him  to  visit  his 
parents  at  Bethel,  Ohio.  His  resignation  from  the  army 
was  a  surprise  and  a  sore  disappointment  to  the  father. 
He  took  the  matter  so  much  to  heart  that  on  the  1st  of 
June,  1854,  he  wrote  to  Jefferson  Davis,  Secretary  of 
War,  and  pleaded  for  a  reconsideration  and  a  with- 
drawal of  the  resignation.  The  letter  contained  this 
significant  paragraph: 

"I  never  wished  him  to  leave  the  service.  I  think 
after  spending  so  much  time  to  qualify  himself  for  the 
army  and  spending  so  many  years  in  the  service,  he  will 
be  poorly  qualified  for  the  pursuits  of  private  life." 

The  father's  heart  was  almost  broken  when  the  War 
Department  placed  its  seal  of  disapproval  on  his  request 
for  a  reconsideration  of  the  acceptance  of  the  captain's 
resignation.  It  did  appear  as  if  the  hope  of  his  life 
had  faded,  for  there  was  hardly  a  possible  chance  that 
his  son,  in  business  pursuits,  could  even  attain  to  moder- 
ate success. 


X. 

AN  UNSUCCESSFUL  FARMER. 

HEN  Captain  Grant  concluded  his  visit  at 
Bethel,  he  joined  his  family  in  Missouri 
late  in  the  summer  of  1854.  A  new  and 
curious  problem  confronted  him.  He  was 
a  private  citizen.  Nothing  had  been  saved  from  his 
pay  as  an  army  officer.  For  fifteen  years  he  had  had  a 
government  to  support  him ;  now  he  must  support  him- 
self. He  had  performed  no  manual  labor  since  enter- 
ing West  Point  in  1839.  Although  he  confessed  that 
he  had  no  love  for  hard  work,  he  now  took  an  optimistic 
view  of  the  situation.  He  was  thirty-two  years  old,  and 
was  to  begin  a  new  life  which  surely  did  not  promise 
satisfying  results. 

About  this  time  Mrs.  Grant  came  into  possession  of 
eighty  acres  of  land,  the  gift  of  her  father,  which  was 
located  ten  miles  west  of  St.  Louis.  There  were  no  im- 
provements on  the  land,  and  neither  the  Captain  nor  his 


56  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

wife  had  means  to  stock  it.  A  house  must  be  built — 
of  logs,  of  course — and  the  officer,  accustomed  to  wield 
the  sword,  now  took  the  ax  in  hand.  Trees  were  felled, 
logs  were  hewed,  and  a  large  double  cabin,  two  stories 
high,  was  built.  The  neighbors  had  a  high  esteem  for 
Captain  Grant,  and  in  his  struggle  to  build  the  cabin 
more  than  two  score  men  volunteered  to  assist  in  its  con- 
struction. Of  necessity  the  cabin  was  plainly  furnished, 
but  it  provided  a  comfortable  home  for  the  little  Grant 
family. 

By  careful  management  the  Captain  became  the 
owner  of  a  fine  team  of  horses,  and  thereby  he  was  able 
to  put  a  considerable  portion  of  the  land  under  cultiva- 
tion. To  add  to  his  slender  income  he  would  frequently 
haul  a  load  of  wood  over  the  rough  and  muddy  roads  to 
St.  Louis  and  sell  it  for  cash.  But  after  nearly  four 
years  of  continuous  labor,  strict  economy,  and  plain 
living,  the  Captain  was  not  able  to  get  beyond  the  point 
of  very  moderate  success.  He  had  worked  hard,  had 
improved  the  farm  as  best  he  could  with  scanty  means, 
and  the  results  had  disappointed  him.  More  than  that, 
during  the  last  year  he  was  attacked  by  fever  and  ague, 
which  unfitted  him  for  the  hard  work  that  the  life  of  a 
farmer  demanded,  and,  in  the  autumn  of  1858,  he  sold 
his  personal  property  for  what  it  would  bring  under  the 
hammer,  and  leased  the  farm.  Captain  Grant  fancied 
that  if  he  had  more  capital  at  the  time,  his  farm  would 
have  paid  fairly  well,  but  it  was  evident,  however,  that 
the  business  of  farming  had  not  set  its  seal  upon  him. 


AN   UNSUCCESSFUL  FARMER  57 

General  Horace  Porter,  who  was  President  Grant's 
private  secretary,  gives  an  incident  which  shows  how 
little  his  thoughts  were  fixed  on  those  touching  events 
of  his  life  which  have  made  such  a  deep  impression  on 
others.  While  President  he  made  a  visit  to  St.  Louis, 
and  wishing  to  go  to  his  old  farm,  a  horse  and  buggy 
were  ordered,  and  the  drive  taken.  "He  stopped  on 
the  high  ground  overlooking  the  city,  and  stood  for  a 
time  by  the  side  of  the  little  log  house  which  he  had 
built  partly  with  his  own  hands  in  the  days  of  his  early 
struggles.  When  being  asked  whether  the  events  of  the 
last  fifteen  years  of  his  life  did  not  seem  to  him  like  a 
tale  of  the  Arabian  Nights,  especially  in  coming  from 
the  White  House  to  visit  the  little  farm-house  of  early 
days,  he  simply  replied :  'Well,  I  never  thought  of  it  in 
that  light.'  " 

The  marvellous  contrasts  in  his  life,  which  amazed 
the  world,  seemed  never  to  have  surprised  him ;  and  he 
so  much  disliked  to  speak  of  matters  so  personal  to  him- 
self that  he  seldom  referred  to  them.* 


*  There  is  peculiar  interest  in  the  two  log  cabins  in  which  Grant 
had  lived.  The  one  in  which  he  was  born  was  purchased  by  Henry  T. 
Chrittendon,  of  Columbus,  Ohio,  in  1888.  It  was  removed  by  boat 
and  rail  from  where  it  had  stood  for  seventy  years,  and  placed  on 
the  grounds  of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture  at  Columbus.  But  as 
time  and  the  elements  had  affected  it,  a  building  was  erected  about  it 
which  gives  it  complete  protection.  The  cabin  which  Grant  built  at 
"Hardscrabble"  was  bought  by  a  real  estate  dealer  in  1893.  In  1904 
it  was  removed  to  the  grounds  of  the  Louisiana  Purchase  Exposition, 
and  rebuilt  from  the  original  material  near  the  Palace  of  Fine  Arts. 
Since  then  an  effort  has  been  made  to  transform  it  into  a  museum  of 
war  relics,  the  undertaking  being  in  charge  of  the  "Grant  Cabin 
association." 


XL 

HE  FAILS  TO  SELL  REAL  ESTATE. 


become  convinced  that  he  could  not 
support  his  family  properly  by  farming  the 
stumpy  land  at  "Hardscrabble,"  Captain 
Grant  went  to  St.  Louis  in  the  winter  of 
1858,  and  formed  a  partnership  with  Harry  Boggs,  a 
cousin  of  Mrs.  Grant,  who  was  conducting  a  real  estate 
agency.  Leaving  the  family  on  the  farm  till  spring- 
time, he  occupied  a  small  room  in  the  Boggs  house  which 
was  lacking  in  almost  every  convenience  that  would 
add  to  his  personal  comfort.  But  he  started  out  in  his 
new  life  with  strong  hope  that  better  days  would  soon 
come.  Not  a  word  of  complaint  fell  from  his  lips,  and 
joining  the  busy  throng  of  the  street,  he  quietly  put 
forth  his  best  powers  to  meet,  in  a  philosophical  way, 
the  hard  conditions  which  beset  him. 

When  spring  came  Mrs.  Grant  and  the  children 
moved  into  the  city,  but  not  many  months  passed  before 


HE  FAILS  TO  SELL  REAL  ESTATE  59 

the  Captain  met  with  grievous  disappointments.  Busi- 
ness did  not  increase.  Boggs  was  the  active  man,  expe- 
rienced in  the  ways  and  means  by  which  houses  and  lots 
were  bought  and  sold,  but  the  junior  partner  was  inex- 
perienced, and  was  not  a  "hustler"  on  the  street.  In 
driving  a  bargain  in  houses  and  lots  the  quartermaster 
of  old  Fourth  Infantry  was  a  dead  failure.  He  could 
not  adapt  himself  to  the  cold  business  methods  of  the 
street. 

Mr.  William  Rumbold,  architect  for  the  steel  dome 
which  crowns  the  old  courthouse  in  St.  Louis,  once  told 
me  a  pathetic  incident  relating  to  Captain  Grant's  ex- 
perience in  the  real  estate  business.  A  Mr.  White,  with 
whom  he  was  acquainted,  had  consulted  the  Captain 
concerning  the  purchase  of  a  house  in  the  city.  The 
terms  were  practically  agreed  upon,  and  Mr.  White 
made  a  verbal  promise  to  take  the  property,  the  transfer 
to  be  made  in  a  few  days.  Of  course  the  Captain  was 
elated.  But  one  morning  in  the  spring  of  1859,  when 
Mr.  White  and  Mr.  Rumbold  were  on  Fourth  street, 
they  chanced  to  meet  the  Captain,  and  after  a  cordial 
handshaking,  Mr.  White  said:  "By  the  way,  Captain, 
I  think  I  shall  not  be  able  to  take  the  house  for  the  pres- 
ent, and  I  intended  to  see  you  about  it."  When  they 
first  clasped  hands  the  Captain's  face  brightened  as  if 
lit  by  a  sunbeam,  but  when  the  last  words  of  Mr.  White 
fell  upon  his  ears,  his  countenance  was  transformed  to 
severe  sadness.  He  could  hardly  utter  a  word,  so  in- 
tense was  his  disappointment.  Almost  immediately, 


60  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

with  his  body  slightly  bent — natural  to  him — his  mind 
terribly  burdened,  and  his  whole  being  depicting  want 
and  depression,  he  slowly  and  silently  walked  away. 

As  the  months  passed,  the  Captain's  share  of  the 
business  dropped  lower  and  lower,  and  finally  the  part- 
nership with  Boggs  was  dissolved.  This  made  his  con- 
dition more  uncertain  and  pitiable  than  ever.  He  paced 
the  streets  of  St.  Louis,  seeking  any  honorable  employ- 
ment for  which  he  was  qualified,  but  no  one  was  found 
to  lend  him  a  helping  hand.  The  world  appeared  to 
have  turned  against  him. 

There  were  only  four  instances  in  Grant's  career 
when  he  lost  control  of  his  will-power — when  his  cour- 
age was  gone.  Faith  in  himself  seemed  to  be  weakest 
during  his  last  days  at  Fort  Humboldt.  The  second 
time  was  at  St.  Louis,  when  it  is  thought  that  he 
"touched  the  lowest  depth  of  dejection"  since  he  re- 
signed from  the  army.  It  has  been  said  that  "no  man  is 
a  failure  until  he  is  dead  or  loses  his  courage — which 
amounts  to  the  same  thing."  But  this  impressive 
phrase  will  not  apply  in  Grant's  case.  He  lived  in 
spite  of  abandoned  hope;  and  lived  to  learn  to  master 
his  moods  before  he  could  master  men. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  he  failed  in  St.  Louis.  He  was 
not  a  "compeller  of  men."  He  was  absolutely  devoid 
of  the  spirit  of  commercialism.  Senator  Hanna  once 
said  of  McKinley:  "He  could  guide  the  destiny  of  the 
Nation,  .  .  .  preserve  the  peace  of  all  the  peoples 


HE  FAILS  TO  SELL  REAL  ESTATE  61 

of  the  earth;  but  could  not  profitably  sell  a  corner  lot." 
It  was  so  with  Grant.  The  business  of  speculating  or 
buying  and  selling  for  gain  was  a  mystery  to  him.  His 
manner  was  too  quiet  and  unassuming  to  make  a  suc- 
cessful barterer. 

When  Grant  had  exhausted  his  resources  in  the  vain 
effort  to  engage  in  some  business  undertaking,  he 
learned  that  a  county  engineer  for  St.  Louis  county  was 
to  be  appointed,  at  a  salary  of  $1,900,  and  for  this  po- 
sition he  made  a  personal  application  in  the  following 
form: 

"Sx.  Louis,  August  15,  1859. 

"Hon.  County  Commissioners,  St.  Louis  County,  Mo. 

"GENTLEMEN: — I  beg  leave  to  submit  myself  as  an  applicant 
for  the  office  of  County  Engineer,  shoiild  the  office  be  rendered 
vacant,  and  at  the  same  time  to  submit  the  names  of  a  few  citi- 
zens who  have  been  kind  enough  to  recommend  me  for  the  office. 
I  have  made  no  effort  to  get  a  large  number  of  names,  nor  the 
names  of  persons  with  whom  I  am  not  personally  acquainted.  I 
enclose  herewith,  also,  a  statement  from  Prof.  J.  J.  Reynolds,  who 
was  a  classmate  of  mine  at  West  Point,  as  to  qualifications. 
Should  your  honorable  body  see  proper  to  give  me  the  appoint- 
ment, I  pledge  myself  to  give  the  office  my  entire  attention,  and 
shall  hope  to  give  general  satisfaction. 

"Very  respectfully  your  obedient  servant, 

"U.  S.  GRANT." 

But  his  opponent  secured  the  office.  In  the 
Memoirs  is  this  laconic  sentence:  "My  opponent  had 
the  advantage  over  me  (he  was  a  citizen  only  by  adop- 
tion) and  carried  off  the  prize."  Others,  however, 
charged  his  defeat  to  politics;  the  Captain  being  a 


62  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

Democrat,  while  three  of  the  five  commissioners  were 
Kepublicans.* 

In  after  years  Grant  said  that  his  failure  to  secure 
the  appointment  of  county  engineer  brought  on  the 
darkest  hour  he  ever  knew.  He  was  driven  to  his  wits 
to  know  how  to  live  or  where  to  live.f 


*  The  sequel  of  Captain  Grant's  application  for  the  position  of 
county  engineer  is  curious  enough.  The  document  is  carefully  pre- 
served among  the  county  records,  and  besides  bearing  a  note  of  re- 
jection, the  following  was  afterwards  added : 

"Application  of  U.  S.  Grant  to  be  appointed  to  County  Engineer, 
Rejected. 

"Attest,  S.  W.  EAGER,  JB., 

"Sec.  Board  of  St.  Louis  Co.,  Commissioners." 
"NOTE — The  within-named  Captain  U.  S.  Grant  is  now  a  Major- 
General  in  the  United  States  Army,  and  is  in  command  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  Tennessee.     September,  1862." 

"Nota  Bene. — Captain  TJ.  S.  Grant  is  now  Lieutenant-Geueral  of 
the  United  States,  and  the  highest  officer  in  the  service.  May  25th, 
1864." 

"The   hero   of  Vicksburg." 
"Captured  Richmond,  April,  1865." 
"Captured  the  whole  rebel  army,  1865." 
"General  United  States  Army,  I860." 

t  At  the  time  of  Captain  Grant's  application  for  the  position  of 
county  engineer,  Henry  T.  Blow  was  an  active  Republican  politician, 
and  opposed  the  appointment.  When  Grant  was  President  a  list  of 
names  was  presented  to  him  for  the  Brazil  mission.  Grant  ran  down 
the  list  until  he  came  to  that  of  Mr.  Blow,  and  pausing  he  said.  "I 
know  that  man.  He  is  the  right  man  for  such  a  place.  He  pre- 
vented me  once  from  getting  the  position  of  engineer  in  St.  Louis. 
I  presume  he  will  never  know,  or  can  know,  the  agony  he  caused  me 
to  experience  at  that  time." 


XII. 
THE  CAPTAIN  IN  THE  LEATHER  TRADE. 

AVTNG  become  convinced  that  he  could  not 
provide  a  living  in  St.  Louis  for  his  family, 
Captain  Grant  decided  to  take  counsel  of 
his  father,  who  lived  in  Covington,  Ken- 
tucky, where  his  tannery  was  located.  On  that  visit  an 
agreement  was  reached  whereby  he  was  to  go  to  Galena 
and  take  a  clerkship  in  the  leather  store  which  was  in 
part  owned  by  Mr.  Grant.  The  particulars  relating  to 
this  matter  are  given  in  a  letter  from  Mr.  Grant  to  Gen- 
eral James  Grant  Wilson,  dated  March  20,  1869 : 

"After  Ulysses'  farming  and  real  estate  experiments  in  St. 
Louis  failed  to  be  self-supporting,  he  came  to  me  at  this  place 
for  advice  and  assistance.  I  referred  him  to  Simpson,  my  next 
oldest  son,  who  had  charge  of  my  Galena  business,  and  who  was 
staying  with  me  on  account  of  ill-health.  Simpson  sent  him  to 
the  Galena  store  to  stay  until  something  else  might  turn  up  in 
his  favor,  and  told  him  he  must  confine  his  wants  within  $800 
a  year.  That  if  that  would  not  support  him  he  must  draw  what 
it  lacked  from  the  rent  of  his  house  and  the  hire  of  his  negroes 


64  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

in  St.  Louis.  He  went  to  Galena  in  April,  1860,  one  year  before 
the  capture  of  Sumter;  then  lie  left.  That  amount  would  have 
supported  his  family  then,  but  he  owed  debts  at  St.  Louis,  and  he 
"did  draw  $1,500  in  the  year,  but  he  paid  back  the  balance  after 
he  went  into  the  army." 

My  acquaintance  with  Grant  began  in  Galena  early 
in  the  winter  of  1856.  He  was  then  on  a  visit  to  his 
brothers,  Simpson  and  Orvil,  who  had  charge  of  their 
father's  interest  in  the  leather  store.  Worn  out  by  hard 
work  in  the  lead  mines  and  on  the  farm  in  southern 
Wisconsin,  I  had  sought  lighter  employment  in  the  har- 
ness shop  of  W.  W.  Venable,  which  adjoined  the  leather 
store. 

I  had  been  in  the  shop  but  a  short  time  when  one 
morning  the  foreman  told  me  to  go  to  Grant's  and  get 
some  "strap  oil."  On  entering  the  store,  the  only  per- 
son I  saw  was  a  man  wearing  an  army  overcoat  of  blue, 
smoking  a  pipe,  reading  a  paper,  his  feet  resting  on  a 
stove.  When  he  saw  me  he  stopped  reading  and  asked 
me  if  I  wanted  the  clerk.  I  answered  that  our  foreman 
had  sent  me  in  for  some  "strap  oil."  Instantly  he 
grasped  the  meaning  of  this,  and  in  a  quiet,  kindly  way, 
he  replied :  "You  may  tell  your  foreman  that  the  firm 
has  no  'strap  oil'  this  morning."  This  Avas  a  great  dis- 
appointment to  the  shop  force,  as  they  expected  to  see 
me  returning  with  a  clerk  giving  my  back  some  heavy 
strokes  with  a  leather  strap. 

Captain  Grant  did  not  remain  long  in  Galena  that 
winter,  as  his  visit  was  only  to  meet  his  brothers  and 
to  enjoy  a  short  relief  from  the  strain  of  farm  labor  at 


THE  CAPTAIN  IN  THE  LEATHER  TRADE  05 

Gravois.  During  that  brief  stay — perhaps  three  weeks 
— I  saw  much  of  him  after  the  incident  I  have  related. 
As  he  had  been  kind  enough  to  save  me  from  being 
"hazed,"  I  felt  free  to  speak  to  him  whenever  we  met, 
and  although  I  was  only  a  "cub" — yet  a  full-grown  man 
— he  did  not  try  to  evade  a  conversation  that  was  worth 
while.  His  army  overcoat,  and  his  sympathetic  face, 
though  often  bearing  a  serious  expression,  strongly  ap- 
pealed to  me.  He  had  a  remarkable  memory,  and  after 
the  Civil  War  he  promptly  recalled  the  incident  of  our 
first  meeting. 

When  Captain  Grant  moved  to  Galena  with  his  wife 
and  four  children  in  April,  1860,  he  readily  adapted 
himself  to  the  demands  of  his  new  environment.  For 
the  first  time  since  his  retirement  from  the  army  he 
received  a  stated  income,  and  although  it  was  small,  and 
the  house  in  which  he  lived  was  of  the  humblest,  no 
discontent  marred  the  happiness  of  the  family.  Al- 
though Mrs.  Grant  was  reared  in  most  comfortable 
circumstances,  and  was  not  used  to  privation  and  disap- 
pointment, and  when  the  Captain  was  buffeted  at  every 
turn  in  business  affairs  in  patience  she  possessed  her 
soul.  She  had  large  hope  in  his  ultimate  success,  and 
in  time  of  reverses  she  "passed  through  the  cloud"  by 
the  sustaining  power  of  gracious  womanhood,  and  it 
seemed  that  never  once  did  she  fail  to  hold  to  the  belief 
that  some  day  she  would  see  the  victory  of  her  faith. 

While  Captain  Grant's  position  in  the  store  was 
that  of  a  clerk,  he  frequently  called  on  the  firm's  del  in- 


66  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

quent  customers  in  the  country.  An  incident  illustrat- 
ing his  force  of  will  in  circumstances  demanding  de- 
termination and  courage  is  worth  relating. 

One  of  the  debtors  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  Wisconsin, 
had  bought  some  goods  on  credit,  and  then  disposed  of 
them  by  an  alleged  bill  of  sale.  The  Captain  was  in- 
structed to  collect  the  bill  or  recover  the  goods  by  process 
of  law.  On  arriving  in  town  he  consulted  with  the 
Hon.  Ormsby  B.  Thomas,  the  firm's  attorney  (after- 
wards my  partner  in  business  and  a  member  of  Con- 
gress). An  investigation  showed  that  the  bill  of  sale 
was  fraudulent,  and  a  writ  was  given  to  the  deputy 
sheriff,  who,  with  the  attorney  and  the  Captain,  pro- 
ceeded to  the  building  in  which  the  goods  were  stored. 
The  pretended  purchaser  having  heard  that  one  of  the 
Grants  was  in  town,  armed  himself  with  a  gun,  hastened 
to  the  store,  locked  the  door,  and  waited  for  the  coming 
of  the  officer.  When  the  deputy  attempted  to  serve  the 
papers  a  threat  to  shoot  came  from  within.  The  deputy 
was  confused  and  knew  not  how  to  secure  service.  The 
Captain  watched  the  proceedings  quietly  for  a  short 
time  and  then  said :  "Mr.  Deputy,  if  you  are  afraid  to 
force  an  entrance  into  the  building,  why  don't  you 
deputize  some  one  who  will  do  it  for  you  ?"  Instantly 
came  the  answer:  "I  deputize  you!" 

Captain  Grant  was  fairly  well  preserved  in  those 
days  and  felt  equal  to  the  task.  Stepping  backward  a 
few  feet,  he  came  up  to  the  door  with  a  rush,  planting 
his  right  foot  near  the  lock.  A  crash  followed,  the  door 


THE  CAPTAIN  IX  THE  LEATHER  TRADE  07 

at  once  swung  ajar,  the  Captain  entered  and  seized 
the  man  and  his  gun.  The  papers  were  served,  and  the 
Grants  got  possession  of  their  goods. 

While  living  in  Galena,  Captain  Grant  made  but 
few  acquaintances.  He  was  content  to  live  a  quiet  life, 
and  those  who  chanced  to  know  him  he  doubtless  im- 
pressed as  being  a  disappointed  man ;  for  the  bitter  dis- 
appointments which  were  written  on  the  heart  were  fre- 
quently reflected  in  the  face.  But  he  was  not  a  shift- 
less man  by  any  means.  An  impelling  sense  of  duty 
enabled  him  to  perform  his  share  of  the  store  work  in  a 
modest,  diligent  way,  and  to  all  appearances  he  was 
content,  and  unconsciously  waiting  the  coming  of  better 
days. 

In  every  condition  of  his  life  Grant  was  impres- 
sively sincere.  He  could  not  trifle  with  himself,  and 
could  not  realize  how  trifling  many  men  could  be.  He 
was  a  very  reverent  man,  even  in  his  darkest  days,  and 
his  theory  of  religion  and  of  religious  living  was  pe- 
culiarly his  own. 

During  the  year  he  lived  in  Galena  the  Rev.  John 
H.  Vincent  (now  bishop)  was  pastor  of  Bench  Street 
Methodist  church,  of  which  Mrs.  Grant  was  a  devout 
member.  Although  the  Captain  was  a  regular  attend- 
ant upon  Sunday  services,  and  was  a  lover  of  good  ser- 
mons, he  never  became  a  communicant  of  the  church. 
In  writing  of  those  times  the  Bishop  emphasizes  what 
Grant's  daily  life  clearly  revealed :  that  he  had  little  of 
what  we  call  sentiment  in  his  nature.  He  cared  but 


63  GRAXT,  THE  MAX  OF  MYSTERY 

little  for  rites  and  ceremonies,  and  did  not  take  com- 
munion while  in  Galena,  and  perhaps  nowhere  else.* 

He  had  a  dislike  of  music,  whether  rendered  by  a 
church  choir  or  blown  off  by  a  brass  band.  He  seemed 
to  be  totally  indifferent  to  the  sweetest  strains  the 
human  voice  could  produce.f 

Those  who  became  acquainted  with  Captain  Grant 
in  Galena  were  greatly  attracted  by  his  gentleness  of 
demeanor,  his  amiable  disposition,  his  purity  of  speech, 
and  his  strong  manliness.  He  was  living  a  very  humble 
life  and  formed  but  few  friendships,  but  those  who  came 
in  close  touch  with  the  man  found  him  the  very  soul 
of  a  true  gentleman.  There  is  a  passage  in  which  St. 
Paul  the  apostle  says  something  about  being  lovers  of 
good  men,  sober-minded,  just,  and  temperate  in  all 


»  The  Bishop  says  that  on  a  Sunday  during  Grant's  presidency, 
and  while  at  the  Metropolitan  Methodist  church  the  Holy  Communion 
was  being  administered,  Grant  leaned  forward  to  Vice  President  Colfax, 
who  sat  immediately  in  front  of  him,  and  offered  to  go  to  the  altar  if 
he  would  accompany  him :  but  for  some  unknown  reason  the  Vice 
President  declined. 

t  Shortly  after  Grant  became  president  he  and  his  daughter  Nellie, 
who  was  then  entering  her  teens,  were  accompanied  by  a  political 
friend  in  attending  an  opera  performance.  The  three  occupied  a  box, 
the  President  being  comfortably  seated  in  the  background.  The  star 
of  the  evening  was  the  famous  Parepa  Rosa,  and  when  she  appeared 
on  the  stage  amid  a  great  outburst  of  applause,  and  began  to  send 
her  charming  voice  to  every  part  of  the  auditorium,  the  President 
paid  no  attention  to  the  demonstration  or  to  the  singer,  but  con- 
tinued to  hold  a  low  conversation  with  his  statesman  friend.  But 
Nellie  became  impatient,  and  finally  whispered :  "Papa,  Parepa  is 
singing."  But  the  President  whispered  back :  "All  right,  Nellie,  let 
her  sing ;  she  is  not  disturbing  us." 


THE  VAPTA1TV  IN  THE  LEATHER  TRADE  69 

things.  Captain  Grant  lived  in  harmony  with  the  apos- 
tle's standard  as  sincerely  and  completely  while  a  clerk 
in  the  leather  store  as  in  any  period  of  his  eventful  life. 
In  sincerity  and  true  manliness  he  was  unchanging  and 
unchangeable. 


XIII. 
PROMPT  RESPONSE  TO  A  NATION'S  CALL. 

|  HEN  the  shot  was  fired  on  Sumter,  on  April 
12th,  1861,  two-thirds  of  Captain  Grant's 
life  had  passed  aAvay.  Up  to  this  time  his 
credits  on  life's  ledger  were  faithful  service 
in  the  old  army,  a  patriotic  spirit,  health,  character, 
and  love  for  his  family.  He  was  passing  through  what 
seemed  to  be  an  aimless  period  of  life,  when  the  Na- 
tion's call  aroused  the  quiet  man  to  action.  Nothing 
less  than  an  event  like  that  of  the  firing  on  Sumter  could 
have  stirred  up  the  gift  which  was  within  him. 

Those  who  have  read  the  Memoirs  will  probably  re- 
member the  statement  that  he  was  called  to  preside  at 
a  war  meeting,  and  that  after  it  had  been  organized, 
Elihu  B.  Washburne,  member  of  Congress  from  the 
Galena  district,  entered  the  courtroom,  and  being  called 
upon  to  speak,  expressed  "a  little  surprise  that  Galena 
could  not  furnish  a  presiding  officer  for  such  an  occa- 


PROMPT  RESPONSE  TO  A  NATION'S  GALL  71 

sion  without  taking  a  stranger."  It  is  true  that  Mr. 
Washburne  had  not  known  Captain  Grant  personally, 
and  the  quotation  requires  an  explanation. 

There  were  two  war  meetings  held  in  Galena :  the 
first  on  the  16th  of  April,  the  presiding  officer  of  which 
was  the  mayor  of  the  town,  whose  address  was  so  lack- 
ing in  patriotic  enthusiasm  that  another  meeting  was 
called  for  the  18th,  and  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Wash- 
burne— who  in  the  meantime  had  learned  something  of 
Captain  Grant — he  was  called  to  the  chair.  The  first 
to  volunteer  was  Augustus  L.  Chetlain,  a  merchant,  who 
rose  to  the  rank  of  brevet  major-general  during  the 
Civil  War.  Captain  Grant  did  not  enlist,  but  aided  in 
the  work  of  recruiting.  When  the  company  was  full 
the  captaincy  was  offered  to  Grant,  but  having  been  a 
captain  in  the  regular  army,  he  declined  on  the  ground 
that  he  was  entitled  to  a  higher  position  in  the  volunteer 
service.  Mr.  Chetlain  was  elected  captain,  and  Captain 
Grant  superintended  the  work  of  uniforming  the  com- 
pany, and  frequently  assisted  in  drilling  the  men. 

The  company  departed  for  Springfield  on  the  25th 
of  April,  and  Captain  Grant,  with  "a  small  carpetbag 
in  hand,  and  very  plainly,  if  not  poorly,  clad  in  citizens' 
clothes,"  marched  with  the  men  to  the  railway  station. 
It  was  his  purpose  to  go  with  the  company  to  Spring- 
field and  tender  his  services  to  the  state ;  and  to  aid  him 
in  this  design,  Mr.  Washburne  gave  him  a  letter  of  in- 
troduction to  Governor  Richard  Yates.  On  the  after- 
noon of  his  departure,  Mr.  Vincent  delivered  a  stirring 


72  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

farewell  address  to  the  company,  and  then  called  upon 
Mrs.  Grant  to  express  the  hope  that  her  husband  might 
be  spared  from  all  harm  and  restored  to  his  family.  I 
have  stated  in  the  preceding  chapter  that  in  all  the  years 
of  the  Captain's  failures,  disappointments,  and  finan- 
cial want,  Mrs.  Grant  was  a  brave,  patient,  and  cheerful 
woman,  and  her  instant  answer  to  the  pastor  was: 
"Dear  me,  I  hope  he  will  get  to  be  a  major  general,  or 
something  big!" 

There  were  many  politicians  at  the  state  capital 
seeking  special  positions  in  the  volunteer  service  for 
either  themselves  or  their  friends.  The  impelling  in- 
fluence among  them  was  even  more  political  than  pa- 
triotic. Therefore,  when  Captain  Grant  presented  the 
Washburne  letter  to  the  Governor,  his  reception  was  so 
cold  as  to  cause  him  painful  surprise  and  disappoint- 
ment. The  natural  Grant  was  not  a  striking  personal- 
ity; and  his  bearing  was  not  that  of  a  trained  soldier. 
His  enthusiasm  for  the  Union  was  not  of  the  fitful,  spas- 
modic, flash-in-the-pan  sort.  But  he  had  the  ornament 
of  a  sincere,  diffident,  quiet  spirit.  He  had  much  in 
reserve.  A  quaint  old  minister  was  once  asked  what 
he  thought  of  the  attainments  of  his  two  sons,  who  were 
both  preachers.  "Well,"  he  said,  "George  has  a  better 
show  in  his  window  than  John,  but  John  has  a  larger 
stock  in  his  warehouse."  The  Captain,  before  the  gov- 
ernor and  politicians  at  Springfield,  was  John  of  the 
anecdote. 

Grant,   not  having  acquired   the  habit   of  talking 


PROMPT  RESPONSE  TO  A  NATION'S  CALL  73 

much  about  himself,  made  a  poor  impression  in  the 
presence  of  Governor  Yates.  One  of  the  laws  of  his 
life  was  not  to  boast  of  his  thrilling  experiences  in  the 
old  army.  This  was  to  his  detriment  at  this  particular 
time.  But  this  was  the  natural  man — one  of  the  mys- 
teries of  his  character. 

The  Governor  did  not  seem  to  be  influenced  in  the 
Captain's  favor  by  Mr.  Washburne's  letter.  He  looked 
at  it  with  apparent  indifference,  and  said  that  he  knew 
of  nothing  he  could  give  him  then,  but  referred  him  to 
the  adjutant-general  of  the  state.  The  Captain  called 
on  that  official  the  following  day,  and  was  informed,  in 
a  cold  sort  of  way,  that  he  knew  of  no  employment 
which  could  be  given  him  unless  it  was  some  clerical 
work  in  the  office  at  two  dollars  a  day. 

Captain  Grant's  patience  and  courage  were  tested 
to  the  limit  by  this  strange  treatment.  But  he  was  a 
patriot,  and  for  the  time  being,  a  common  clerk.  In  a 
few  days,  however,  Captain  Chetlain  observed  that  the 
Captain's  spirits  began  to  droop.  He  was  mortified,  as 
any  soldier  of  his  character  and  record  would  have  been, 
in  being  set  to  do  such  work;  and  one  day  he  said  to 
Chetlain :  "I  am  going  back  to  the  store  to-night.  I  am 
of  no  use  here.  You  have  boys  in  your  company  who 
can  do  this  work."  But  he  was  urged  to  remain  a  few 
days  longer,  which  he  reluctantly  decided  to  do.  When 
the  Twelfth  Illinois  Infantry  was  organized,  Captain 
Chetlain  endeavored  to  secure  the  colonelcy  for  Grant, 
but  "a  prominent  and  influential  politician  who  aspired 


74  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

to  the  place  strenuously  opposed  Grant,  on  the  ground 
that  an  officer  who  had  been  compelled  to  leave  the  army 
on  account  of  his  habits  was  not  a  safe  man  to  be  in- 
trusted with  the  command  of  a  regiment."  "I  found  it 
impossible,"  continues  Chetlain,  "to  overcome  this  ob- 
jection, and  Grant's  name  was  dropped." 

Again  Captain  Grant  was  engulfed  in  disappoint- 
ment. His  hope  was  almost  buried  in  the  grave  of  de- 
spair. He  did  not  nurse  morbid  feelings — they  were 
forced  upon  him  by  conditions  he  could  not  control; 
and  for  the  third  time  in  his  life  he  lost  his  tenacity  of 
will.  There  was  latent  power  enough  in  the  man  to 
turn  the  stream  of  history  into  a  new  channel,  but  for 
the  time  he  could  not  overcome  the  machinations  of 
self-asserting  politicians. 

It  was  a  happy  deliverance  from  his  immediate 
troubles  that  Captain  Grant  was  persuaded  by  his 
friend  Chetlain  (who  in  the  meantime  had  been  ap- 
pointed lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Twelfth  Infantry)  not 
to  make  a  hasty  return  to  Galena,  for  on  the  4th  of  May 
he  was  appointed  to  take  charge  of  Camp  Yates,  where 
several  regiments  were  gathered.  The  camp  was  in  a 
chaotic  state,  but  Captain  Grant,  having  been  a  success- 
ful quartermaster,  soon  placed  it  in  an  orderly  condi- 
tion. 

On  the  8th  of  May  he  was  appointed  mustering  offi- 
cer— a  slight  promotion — and  after  organizing  several 
regiments  in  various  parts  of  the  state,  he  went  to  St. 
Louis  to  consult  Captain  Nathaniel  Lyon,  with  whom  he 


PROMPT  RESPONSE  TO  A  NATION'S  CALL  75 

was  acquainted  at  West  Point,  and  who  was  then  com- 
mandant at  the  government  arsenal.  But  his  old  army 
friend  could  find  nothing  for  him,  and,  departing  for 
Springfield,  he  called  at  Caseyville,  where  the  Twelfth 
was  stationed.  Colonel  Chetlain  says:  "The  Captain 
was  again  depressed  in  spirits,  and  seemed  to  feel  keenly 
his  lack  of  success  in  obtaining  some  suitable  appoint- 
ment in  the  volunteer  service.  During  his  visit  he 
more  than  once  alluded  to  the  singular  fact  that  an  edu- 
cated military  man  who  had  seen  service  could  not  get 
a  position  in  the  volunteer  army,  when  civilians,  with- 
out military  education  or  experience,  could  easily  ob- 
tain them." 

When  the  Captain  reached  Springfield  he  was  or- 
dered, on  the  15th  of  May,  to  muster  in  the  Twenty- 
first  Illinois  at  Mattoon ;  and  there  being  nothing  more 
for  him  to  do,  he  returned  to  Galena.  Seeing  no  imme- 
diate prospect  of  having  his  services  accepted  by  the 
state,  Captain  Grant  wrote  a  letter  to  the  War  Depart- 
ment at  Washington,  tendering  his  services  to  the 
country.  The  letter  was  dated  at  Galena,  May  24th, 
1861,  and  after  reciting,  in  a  brief  way,  his  military 
record,  he  stated  that  he  felt  competent  to  command  a 
regiment  if  the  President  should  see  fit  to  intrust  one 
to  him. 

Captain  Grant  never  received  an  answer  to  that  let- 
ter. It  had  been  misplaced  in  the  war  office,  and  was 
not  found  until  many  months  afterwards.  He  con- 
fesses that  he  had  some  hesitation  in  applying  for  a 


76  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

colonelcy,  as  he  really  doubted  whether  he  would  be 
equal  to  the  demands  of  the  position,  but  his  courage  to 
make  the  application  was  strengthened  when  he  saw  the 
kind  of  material  out  of  which  colonels  were  being  rap- 
idly made  in  Illinois  and  Indiana. 

When  no  word  came  from  Washington,  one  might 
well  believe  that  Captain  Grant  had  almost  lost  faith  in 
Longfellow's  line: 

"All  things  come  round  to  him  who  will  but  wait." 

He  had  waited  till  his  heart  grew  heavy;  but 
finally  he  concluded  to  try  again.  He  had  known 
General  McClellan  at  West  Point  and  in  Mexico, 
and  as  McClellan  had  been  recently  appointed  major- 
general,  with  headquarters  at  Cincinnati,  the  Captain 
decided  to  call  upon  him,  hoping  that  he  would  offer 
him  a  staff  appointment.  He  called  at  headquarters  on 
two  successive  days,  and  when  he  asked  for  the  General, 
the  answer  was,  "He  has  just  gone  out."  Each  day  the 
same  story,  "Just  gone  out."  The  Captain  could  no 
longer  endure  the  wearisomeness  of  delay,  and  retired 
from  the  scene. 

It  is  but  fair  to  give  McClellan's  version  of  this  in- 
cident, found  in  My  Own  Story,  in  which  he  says :  "I 
think  it  was  during  my  absence  on  a  trip  to  Indianapolis 
that  Grant  came  to  Cincinnati  to  ask  me,  as  an  old 
acquaintance,  to  give  him  employment,  or  a  place  on  my 
staff.  Marcy,  or  Seth  Williams,  saw  him  and  told  him 
that  if  he  would  await  my  return,  doubtless  I  would  do 
something  for  him ;  but  before  I  got  back  he  telegraphed 


PROMPT  RESPONSE  TO  A  NATION'S  CALL  77 

that  he  could  have  a  regiment  in  Illinois,  and  at  once 
returned  thither,  so  I  did  not  see  him.  This  was  his 
good  luck ;  for  had  I  been  there  I  would  have  no  doubt 
given  him  a  place  on  my  staff,  and  he  would  probably 
have  remained  with  me  and  shared  my  fate." 

It  was  near  the  middle  of  June,  1861,  when 
common  sense  at  the  executive  office  at  Springfield  got 
a  chance  to  reach  its  own  conclusion.  The  Governor 
appointed  Captain  Grant  colonel  of  the  Twenty-first 
Illinois — a  regiment  made  up  of  good  material,  but 
which  had  become  demoralized  while  under  command 
of  an  incompetent  colonel  at  Springfield.  Originally  it 
was  a  thirty-day  regiment,  but  with  the  appointment  of 
Grant  as  colonel  it  became  a  part  of  the  three-year 
forces. 

When  Grant  went  to  Springfield  to  take  command 
of  the  regiment,  he  found  it  in  a  state  of  insubordina- 
tion ;  and  General  John  E.  Smith  of  Galena  tells  of 
Grant's  first  visit  to  his  command : 

"I  went  with  him  to  camp,  and  shall  never  forget  the  scene 
when  his  men  first  saw  him.  Grant  was  dressed  in  citizen's 
clothes,  an  old  coat  worn  out  at  the  elbows,  and  a  badly  damaged 
hat.  His  men,  though  ragged  and  barefooted  themselves,  had 
formed  a  high  estimate  of  what  a  colonel  should  be,  and  when 
Grant  walked  in  among  them  they  began  making  fun  of  him. 
They  cried  in  derision,  'What  a  colonel!'  and  made  all  sorts  of 
fun  of  him.  And  one  of  them,  to  show  off  to  the  others,  got 
behind  his  back  and  commenced  sparring  at  him,  and  while  he 
was  doing  this  another  gave  him  such  a  push  that  he  hit  Grant 
between  the  shoulders." 

But  this   rebellious   spirit   did   not   continue   long 


78  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

after  Grant  took  command.  He  was  not  a  severe  dis- 
ciplinarian, but  judiciously  strict,  and  when  the  regi- 
ment got  to  know  and  understand  the  Colonel,  it  was 
classed  among  the  best  sent  to  the  front  from  Illinois. 

General  Chetlain  says  that  Mr.  E.  A.  Collins  of 
Galena,  formerly  the  junior  member  of  the  firm  of 
Jesse  E.  Grant  &  Co.,  hearing  that  the  Colonel  was  in 
much  need  of  money,  quietly  sent  him  four  hundred 
dollars,  and  with  this  amount  Colonel  Grant  equipped 
himself  in  a  manner  befitting  the  commander  of  a  regi- 
ment. 

After  years  of  hard  weather,  the  clouds  are  break- 
ing. The  frowns  of  Fortune  are  on  the  wane.  The 
door  of  opportunity  is  ajar.  A  forward  movement  is 
begun,  and  not  a  step  backward  is  ever  again  to  be 
taken.  The  lesson  of  terrible  experience  is  deeply 
burned  in  the  soul.  The  silent,  mysterious  man  has 
mastered  fate.  He  nerves  himself  for  the  vigorous 
years,  the  mighty  responsibilities,  and  the  great  achieve- 
ments which  are  to  follow. 


XIV. 

MARCHING  TO  THE  FRONT. 

OLONEL  GKANT  was  now  in  the  saddle. 
For  the  first  time  in  his  military  career  he 
was  -given  an  opportunity  to  lead  a  force 
into  action.  His  regiment  became  thor- 
oughly drilled.  The  men  stood  by  him  and  for  him, 
and  were  ready  for  the  field. 

On  the  3d  of  July,  1861,  Colonel  Grant  was  ordered 
to  take  his  regiment  to  Quincy,  Illinois,  one  hundred 
miles  west  from  Springfield.  In  three  weeks  after  he 
was  commissioned  Colonel  we  have  an  illustration  of  the 
real  Grant  in  wartime.  The  railway  facilities  between 
the  two  cities  were  deficient,  but  instead  of  grumbling 
about  the  deficiency  in  transportation,  he  turned  it  to 
good  account.  He  decided  to  march  his  men  to  the 
banks  of  the  Mississippi  and  hire  wagons  to  carry  tents 
and  rations.  Of  course  no  colonel  who  went  in  the 
war  for  glory  would  ever  think  of  doing  such  a  thing 


80  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

as  that.  But  Colonel  Grant  was  wise,  as  making  the 
one  hundred  miles  or  more  on  foot  would  give  the  regi- 
ment a  valuable  lesson  in  the  business  of  marching. 

The  march  was  begun  on  the  3d  of  July  and  an 
easy  distance  was  made  each  day.  But  when  the  Illinois 
river  was  reached,  Colonel  Grant  was  ordered  to  take 
cars  for  Quincy,  and  proceed  with  all  possible  haste  to 
Palmyra,  Missouri,  where  an  Illinois  regiment  was 
thought  to  be  surrounded  by  Confederates;  but  before 
Palmyra  could  be  reached  all  danger  had  passed,  and 
the  Colonel  thought  that  both  sides  got  frightened  and 
ran  away."  A  few  days  later  Colonel  Grant  was  or- 
dered to  Florida,  a  little  town  held  by  Colonel  Thomas 
Harris  with  a  regiment  of  Confederates.  When  the 
Colonel  got  in  view  of  the  enemy's  camp,  and  realized 
what  was  expected  of  him,  he  says  that  his  heart  kept 
getting  higher  and  higher  until  it  felt  as  though  it  was 
in  his  throat.  This  was  the  first  time  in  his  military 
career  that  he  was  compelled  to  fight  his  own  battle. 
He  was  oppressed  by  the  responsibility :  "I  would  have 
given  anything  then  to  have  been  back  in  Illinois,  but 
I  had  not  the  moral  courage  to  halt  and  consider  what 
to  do;  I  kept  right  on.  .  .  My  heart  then  resumed 
its  place.  It  occurred  to  me  that  Colonel  Harris  had 
been  as  much  afraid  of  me  as  I  was  of  him. 
From  that  event  to  the  close  of  the  war  I  never  experi- 
enced trepidation,  though  I  was  more  or  less  anxious. 
I  never  forgot  that  the  enemy  had  as  much  reason  to 
fear  my  forces  as  I  had  his." 


MARCH  IN  O   TO   THE  FRONT  81 

Shortly  after  this  incident,  Colonel  Grant  was  or- 
dered by  General  Pope — commanding  the  District  of 
Missouri — to  move  his  regiment  to  Mexico,  in  that 
state,  and  to  assume  command  of  the  several  regiments 
in  that  immediate  locality.  He  had  been  there  but  a 
few  weeks  when  he  learned  that  he  had  been  appointed 
Brigadier-General,  with  six  other  colonels  from  Illinois. 
General  Grant  was  given  command  of  the  district  em- 
bracing southeastern  Missouri  and  southern  Illinois; 
and  on  the  4th  of  September,  1861,  he  established  his 
headquarters  at  Cairo,  the  post  then  being  commanded 
by  Colonel  Richard  Oglesby,  later  Governor  of  Illinois 
and  United  States  Senator. 

General  Grant  could  no  more  throw  aside  his  mod- 
esty than  he  could  lose  his  temper.  When  he  reached 
Cairo  he  was  in  citizen's  dress,  his  brigadier's  uniform 
not  having  been  received.  He  had  never  met  Colonel 
Oglesby,  and  when  he  went  to  his  headquarters  he  found 
the  rooms  full  of  people  "making  complaints  or  asking 
favors."  When  General  Grant  introduced  himself,  in 
his  habitually  quiet  voice,  it  seems  that  the  Colonel  did 
not  understand  the  name  clearly,  and,  supposing  him 
to  be  a  stranger  who  wanted  some  favor,  he  paid  little 
attention  to  him.  As  Colonel  Oglesby  was  a  dignified 
looking  man,  and  uniformed  according  to  his  rank,  there 
was  a  striking  difference  in  the  appearance  of  the  two 
men.  But  Grant  was  not  abashed  by  this  dissimilarity. 
He  took  a  place  at  a  table,  reached  for  a  piece  of  paper 
on  which  he  wrote  an  order  assuming  command  of  that 


82  GRANT,  THE  MAX  OF  MYSTERY 

district,  and  assigning  Colonel  Oglesby  to  the  post  of 
Bird's  Point.  When  this  order  was  handed  to  him, 
Grant  says :  "He  put  on  an  expression  of  surprise  that 
looked  as  if  he  would  like  to  have  someone  identify  me." 
It  is  marvellous  how  rapidly  General  Grant  made 
history  from  this  time  on. 

Here  is  an  illustration :  General  Grant  had  been  in 
Cairo  but  one  day  when  he  learned  from  one  of  General 
Fremont's  scouts  that  a  force  of  Confederates  had 
started  from  Columbus — twenty  miles  below  on  the 
Mississippi — for  the  purpose  of  occupying  Paducah, 
then  a  town  of  8,000,  at  the  confluence  of  the  Ohio  and 
Tennessee  rivers.  The  holding  of  the  town  by  the  Con- 
federates would  have  been  a  severe  blow  to  the  cause  of 
the  Union  in  Kentucky.  Paducah  was  the  key  of  the 
West.  General  Grant,  with  his  keen  military  eye,  saw 
this  clearly.  Also,  he  was  aware  of  the  fact  that  if 
Union  troops  were  to  hold  the  city,  action  must  be 
prompt.  Twice  he  telegraphed  the  situation  of  affairs 
to  General  Fremont  at  St.  Louis,  but  received  no  answer. 
He  then  determined  to  assume  the  responsibility  of  mov- 
ing on  Paducah,  forty-five  miles  from  Cairo.  Troops 
were  embarked  on  transports  with  all  possible  haste, 
and  under  the  cover  of  night  steamed  up  the  river  and 
reached  their  destination  about  daylight.  Had  General 
Grant  spent  another  half  day  in  dallying  with  Fremont, 
Paducah  would  have  been  held  and  fortified  by  the  Con- 
federates, for  4,000  troops  were  within  a  few  hours' 
march  of  the  town. 


'-•  v- 

'  r  -1 


GRANT  AS   BRIGADIER  GENERAL, 

IN  THK  AUTUMN  OF   18(51. 

1  Copied  from  the  original  photograph,  loaned  by  General 
Frederick   D.   Grant. J 


MARCBINO  TO  THE  FRONT  83 

Of  course  there  was  consternation  among  the  people 
when  General  Grant's  army  of  eighteen  hundred  men, 
with  the  necessary  cannon,  took  possession  of  the  town. 
They  were  fearful  of  trouble.  But  the  General  soon 
calmed  their  fears.  With  a  military  head  and  a  mili- 
tary hand  he  everywhere  evoked  order  out  of  chaos. 
He  issued  a  printed  proclamation  to  the  citizens,  assur- 
ing them  "of  our  peaceful  intention,  that  we  had  come 
among  them  to  protect  them  against  the  enemies  of  our 
country,  and  all  who  chose  could  continue  their  usual 
avocations  with  the  assurance  of  the  protection  of  the 
government." 

A  campaign  for  the  Union  began  early  in  Kentucky. 
The  most  persuasive  orators  and  the  ablest  pens  were 
employed  to  save  the  state  to  the  Union.  President 
Lincoln  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  matter.  From  the 
very  depth  of  his  soul  there  came  a  plea  that  Kentucky 
must  not  be  precipitated  into  secession.  Earnestly  and 
tenderly  he  clung  to  the  state  that  gave  him  birth.  And 
when  General  Grant's  proclamation  was  published,  the 
President  said:  "The  modesty  and  brevity  of  that  ad- 
dress show  that  the  officer  issuing  it  understands  the  sit- 
uation, and  is  the  proper  man  to  command  there  at  this 
time."  It  was  not  the  proclamation  of  a  warrior,  but 
the  sympathetic  appeal  of  a  friend,  a  patriot,  and  a 
statesman.  James  G.  Elaine  says  that  the  taking  of 
Paducah  by  General  Grant  was  the  first  important  step 
in  the  military  career  "which  fills  the  most  brilliant 
pages  in  the  military  annals  of  our  country." 


84  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

It  was  this  perfect  self-reliance,  always  manifested 
in  General  Grant,  which,  perhaps,  gave  him  a  touch  of 
the  feeling  that  he  was  the  man  born  for  the  occasion ; 
and  hence,  without  orders  from  any  superior,  he  made 
a  movement  in  the  nick  of  time  to  outwit  the  Confed- 
erates in  their  purpose  to  hold  Paducah.  A  delay  of 
only  a  few  hours  would  have  lost  that  important  post 
to  the  Union. 


XV. 

GRANTS  FIRST  BATTLE. 

EXERAL  GRANT  made  no  delay  in  prop- 
erly reinforcing  Paducah.  The  command 
of  the  post  was  given  to  General  Charles 
F.  Smith,  who  held  the  positions  of  adju- 
tant and  commandant  at  West  Point  during  Grant's 
term  as  a  cadet. 

On  his  return  to  Cairo,  General  Grant  found  a 
dispatch  from  the  department  headquarters  which  gave 
him  permission  to  take  Paducah  "if  he  felt  strong 
enough."  One  of  the  interesting  features  of  his  military 
career  was  that  he  rarely  ever  mismeasured  his  strength. 
Before  the  department  commander  at  St.  Louis  could 
decide  what  to  do  about  Paducah,  General  Grant  had 
seen  his  opportunity,  and  moved  immediately  upon  the 
town,  and  thereby  made  the  Union  forces  master  of  the 
Ohio  and  Tennessee  rivers.  It  was  the  original  aim 
of  Kentucky  to  preserve  a  position  of  neutrality  in  the 


86  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

impending  contest;  but  the  Confederates  were  the  first 
to  violate  it.  And  on  the  heel  of  the  dispatch  giving 
General  Grant  permission  to  take  Paducah  if  he  felt 
strong  enough,  came  another  from  the  same  source 
reprimanding  him  for  so  hastily  placing  the  town  under 
Federal  authority !  Evidently,  on  second  thought,  Fre- 
mont concluded  that  General  Grant  had  violated  the 
neutrality  agreement,  and  then  began  to  blow  hot  and 
cold  in  regard  to  the  affair. 

For  two  months  after  the  timely  occupation  of  Pa- 
ducah, little  was  done  in  General  Grant's  department. 
Shortly  after  giving  that  important  post  the  protection 
of  Union  forces,  he  asked  permission  to  drive  the  Con- 
federates out  of  Columbus  and  securely  fortify  that 
commanding  position,  but  consent  was  refused,  and 
this  piece  of  stupidity  on  the  part  of  General  Fremont 
gave  the  enemy  an  opportunity  to  fortify  the  town  so 
as  to  make  it  difficult  of  capture  should  it  have  been 
deemed  advisable  later  on  to  move  against  it. 

It  is  not  essential  to  enter  into  all  the  details  which 
led  up  to  General  Grant's  first  battle.  General  Fre- 
mont was  in  Missouri,  striving  to  take  care  of  General 
Sterling  Price,  who  had  an  army  of  considerable  size 
for  that  period  of  the  war.  He  was  still  looking  to 
Columbus  for  reinforcements.  To  prevent  forces  from 
being  sent  from  Columbus  to  Missouri,  General  Grant 
ordered  General  Smith  to  take  such  troops  as  he  could 
spare  from  Paducah,  and  make  a  sufficient  demonstra- 
tion in  the  rear  of  the  "Gibraltar  of  the  West,"  to  alarm 


GRANT'S  FIRST  BATTLE  87 

the  enemy.  Grant  decided  to  supplement  this  move- 
ment by  moving  by  boat  down  the  river  three  thousand 
one  hundred  men,  embracing  five  regiments  of  in- 
fantry, two  squadrons  of  cavalry,  and  two  pieces  of 
artillery.  It  was  his  purpose  to  make  only  a  feint 
against  Columbus,  for  he  was  too  good  a  soldier  to  begin 
a  fight  which  he  knew  would  certainly  end  in  his  defeat. 
This  movement  was  made  on  Wednesday  evening, 
November,  6th,  1861,  and  about  two  o'clock  Thursday 
morning  Grant  learned  that  Confederate  troops  were 
crossing  the  river  from  Columbus,  doubtless  to  inter- 
cept Colonel  Oglesby,  who  had  gone  into  Missouri  after 
that  roaming  bandit,  Jeff.  Thompson.  General  Grant 
knew  of  a  Confederate  camp  at  Belmont,  and  wishing 
to  make  havoc  of  it,  he  quickly  decided  to  move  upon  it 
and  immediately  return  to  Cairo.  The  camp  was  lo- 
cated on  low  ground,  and  in  consequence  of  much  timber 
and  marshy  land,  difficulty  would  attend  its  capture. 
He  dropped  down  the  river  to  Hunter's  Point,  three 
miles  above  Belmont,  disembarked,  and  at  eight  o'clock 
on  the  morning  of  November  7th  a  slow  and  cautious 
march  for  the  camp  was  begun.  He  soon  met  Confed- 
erate troops  from  Belmont,  and  the  battle  was  on.  Gen- 
eral Grant  was  the  only  man  in  the  command  who  had 
ever  been  under  fire.  Early  in  the  engagement  his 
horse  was  shot  from  under  him,  but  he  immediately  got 
another  and  led  the  advance.  His  men  behaved  well 
until  the  camp  was  captured,  when,  supposing  their 
victory  was  complete,  demoralization  seized  them. 


88  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

Grant  says:  "The  moment  the  camp  was  reached  our 
men  laid  down  their  arms  and  began  rummaging  the 
tents  to  pick  up  trophies.  Some  of  the  higher  officers 
were  little  better  than  the  privates.  They  galloped 
about  from  one  cluster  of  men  to  another  and  at  every 
halt  delivered  a  short  eulogy  upon  the  Union  cause  and 
the  achievements  of  the  command." 

After  fighting  four  hours,  during  which  reinforce- 
ments were  being  sent  to  the  Confederates  from  Colum- 
bus, there  was  nothing  further  for  Grant  to  do  than  to 
burn  the  camp  and  retreat  to  the  boats.  Some  of  the 
officers  thought  they  were  completely  surrounded  by  the 
enemy,  and  that  the  next  thing  to  do  was  to  surrender. 
But  the  General  always  had  the  right  word  for  the  right 
time;  and  instantly  he  made  the  inspiring  announce- 
ment: "We  have  cut  our  way  in,  and  can  cut  our  Avay 
out!"  The  officers  and  men  came  to  their  senses,  and 
with  some  degree  of  order  a  retreat  to  the  transports 
was  made.  Grant  was  in  the  rear — the  only  man  in  the 
command  between  the  Confederates  and  the  transports. 
He  had  been  looking  after  the  welfare  of  the  weak  and 
the  wounded.  It  was  about  this  time  in  the  day  that 
the  wearing  of  the  ordinary  blue  army  overcoat  used 
by  the  private  soldiers  saved  his  life.  General  Polk, 
of  Louisiana,  who  had  left  a  bishopric  to  command  Con- 
federate troops,  said  to  his  sharpshooters:  "There's 
a  Yankee,  if  you  want  to  try  your  aim."  But  his  men 
were  too  busy  firing  at  the  crowded  transports,  and 
"deemed  the  solitary  soldier  unworthy  of  notice." 


GRA\T'8  FIRST  BATTLE  89 

When  General  Grant  reached  the  bank  of  the  river 
where  the  transports  were  lying,  he  found  that  the  plank 
of  his  steamer  had  been  pulled  in,  the  captain  supposing 
that  all  were  aboard.  Being  observed,  the  engineer  was 
ordered  not  to  start  his  engines.  The  bank  was  steep 
and  no  pathway  led  to  the  boat.  But  this  gave  the 
General  no  concern,  and  as  naturally  as  if  riding  on  a 
road,  he  started  his  horse  over  the  bank.  With  his 
hind  feet  well  under  him,  the  animal  slid  down  to  the 
water's  edge,  and  then  trotted,  on  a  single  plank,  twelve 
or  fifteen  feet  to  the  boat,  the  rider  keeping  the  saddle 
with  perfect  composure. 

As  a  result  of  the  dash  upon  Belniont,  many  tents, 
with  other  camp  equipage,  were  burned,  one  hundred 
and  seventy-five  prisoners  and  two  cannons  were  cap- 
tured, four  cannons  were  spiked,  the  Confederate  ex- 
pedition was  broken  up,  and  Colonel  Oglesby's  com- 
mand was  saved.  More  than  that:  the  experience  pre- 
pared the  men  for  the  next  battle  and  also  demon- 
strated General  Grant's  ability  to  command;  and  in  a 
strategic  sense,  military  critics  commented  favorably 
on  the  result. 


XVI. 
THE  COUNTRY  IS  ELECTRIFIED. 


| WO  days  after  the  battle  of  Belmont,  Major 
General  Halleck  superseded  Fremont  as 
commander  of  the  department,  which  in- 
cluded Missouri,  Arkansas,  and  West  Ken- 
tucky to  the  Cumberland.  General  Grant's  jurisdiction 
was  so  enlarged  as  to  embrace  the  district  of  Cairo  and 
the  territory  containing  the  mouths  of  the  Tennessee 
and  Cumberland  rivers. 

Up  to  the  beginning  of  1862,  little  had  been  done 
anywhere  by  the  Union  forces.  The  three  generals  who 
had  the  most  important  commands  were  McClellan  in 
the  East,  Buell  in  the  department  of  the  Ohio,  with 
headquarters  at  Louisville,  and  Halleck  in  Missouri. 
From  the  beginning  of  November,  1861,  to  the  close  of 
January,  1862,  the  Confederates  were  active  in  moving 
troops  into  Kentucky  and  Northwestern  Tennessee,  and 
fortifying  some  important  points,  while  nothing  was  be- 


THE  COUNTRY  IS  ELECTRIFIED  91 

ing  done  by  our  commanders  to  prevent  the  insurgents 
from  having  their  own  way.  "Just  as  Lincoln  had  to 
prick  McClellan  in  Virginia,  he  had  to  prick  Buell  in 
Kentucky;  and  just  as  McClellan  failed  to  respond  in 
Virginia,  Buell  also  failed  in  Kentucky."  And  as  to 
Halleck,  he  was  comfortably  quartered  in  St.  Louis  and 
was  occupied  chiefly  in  holding  back  active  operations. 

The  only  officer  having  any  considerable  command, 
who  grew  restless  under  this  stagnant  condition  of 
affairs,  was  General  Grant.  He' was  anxious  to  move 
against  the  enemy.  His  clear  military  eye  saw  the 
points  which  must  be  attacked.  Fort  Henry  was  on  the 
Tennessee,  and  eleven  miles  eastward  lay  Fort  Donelson 
on  the  west  bank  of  the  Cumberland.  These  Confed- 
erate strongholds  "presented  a  kind  of  temptation  which 
General  Grant  was  less  able  to  resist  than  were  most  of 
the  Union  generals  at  that  time."  He  was  always  on 
the  watchtower  for  a  chance  to  get  at  the  enemy. 

Halleck  did  not  clearly  understand  the  importance 
of  freeing  the  rivers  of  these  forts,  for  early  in  January, 
1862,  General  Grant  begged  permission  to  go  to  St. 
Louis  and  lay  a  plan  of  campaign  before  the  command- 
ing general.  The  permission  was  granted,  but  only  in 
a  half-hearted  way,  and  when  General  Grant  appeared 
at  headquarters  he  was  received  with  such  cold  indiffer- 
ence that  before  he  could  make  his  plan  clear  to  Halleck, 
he  was  cut  short  and  turned  away.  With  all  of  General 
Grant's  equipoise  in  the  most  harassing  condition  in 


92  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

war,  this  rebuff  staggered  him,  and  he  returned  to 
Cairo  much  crestfallen. 

Although  he  was  sorely  disappointed  in  the  kind  of 
reception  Halleck  gave  him,  General  Grant  did  not  sur- 
render his  hope  of  an  early  movement  up  the  Tennessee 
and  the  Cumberland  rivers.  He  took  counsel  of  his 
courage,  and  determined  to  try  again.  He  consulted 
Flag  Officer  Andrew  H.  Foote,  who  had  a  flotilla  at 
Cairo.  He  cheerfully  indorsed  the  General's  plan,  and 
as  the  proposed  campaign  was  devoid  of  guesswork,  Gen- 
eral Grant  telegraphed  Halleck  on  the  28th  of  January : 
"If  permitted  I  will  take  Fort  Henry  on  the  Tennes- 
see." On  the  29th,  the  persistent  brigadier  general  wrote 
full  particulars  concerning  the  movement  to  the  af- 
fluent, scholarly,  but  doubting  commander  of  the 
Missouri.  The  urgency  with  which  the  General  pleaded 
his  cause  finally  brought  from  the  timid  Halleck  per- 
mission to  move  up  the  Tennessee. 

The  expedition  was  started  on  the  2nd  of  February. 
The  land  forces  consisted  of  17,000  men  who  were 
moved  on  transports ;  and  in  addition  to  this  force  were 
seven  gunboats  commanded  by  Flag  Officer  Foote.  On 
approaching  Fort  Henry  it  became  evident  that  the 
troops  would  not  be  needed  in  the  attack.  The  flotilla 
began  blowing  shot  into  the  fort  on  the  forenoon  of 
Thursday  the  6th,  and  although  the  enemy  had  seven- 
teen heavy  guns,  the  work  done  by  Foote  was  so  effective 
that  in  one  hour  and  twenty  minutes,  General  Lloyd 
Tilghman  raised  the  white  flag.  The  camp  and  garrison 


THE   COUNTRY  18  ELECTRIFIED  93 

numbered  2,800,  but  the  General,  foreseeing  that  the 
fort  was  in  danger  of  falling,  ordered  his  men  to  retreat 
to  Donelson. 

The  fall  of  Fort  Henry  diffused  general  joy  in  the 
North,  and  stimulated  the  openly  expressed  hope  for 
more  of  such  victories.  With  General  Grant  in  com- 
mand of  the  invading  army,  the  sign  of  the  time  por- 
tended important  and  gratifying  news.  Therefore,  when 
Henry  fell  he  telegraphed  Halleck  that  he  would  take 
Fort  Donelson  on  Saturday,  the  8th.  He  had  studied 
carefully  the  topography  of  the  country.  Furthermore, 
he  knew  the  men  in  command  of  the  fort — Floyd, 
Pillow,  and  Buckner — and  this  gave  him  confidence. 

But  suddenly  the  bottom  seemed  to  have  fallen  out 
of  the  roads.  The  rain  and  snow  were  so  prolonged 
that  the  supply  trains  and  artillery  could  not  be  moved 
as  early  as  General  Grant  had  hoped.  Almost  any 
other  general  would  have  despaired  of  moving  an  army 
at  all  in  such  a  country  and  in  such  a  season.  But  if 
General  Grant  had  been  told  that  it  was  impossible  to 
make  an  early  move  on  Donelson  he  would  have  made 
a  reply  something  like  that  of  Pompey  the  Great,  who 
when  told  that  his  fleet  could  not  sail,  replied:  "It  is 
necessary  to  sail ;  not  necessary  to  live."  It  was  neces- 
.sary  for  General  Grant's  army  to  take  Fort  Donekon ; 
"not  necessary  to  live."  In  this  movement  against  Don- 
elson, General  Grant  acted  without  express  orders  from 
Halleck.  It  was  a  plan  wholly  conceived  by  himself ; 


94  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

and  therefore  lie  held  himself  responsible  for  the  results 
of  the  campaign. 

On  the  12th  of  February  General  Grant  was  able  to 
start  his  army  of  15,000  men  for  Donelson.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  movement  he  had  with  him  General 
Charles  F.  Smith  and  General  John  A.  McClernand 
and  two  days  later  General  Lew  Wallace  joined  him 
with  2,500  men.  A  portion  of  Foote's  fleet  which  had 
been  on  the  Tennessee  was  taken  up  the  Cumberland  to 
co-operate  with  the  land  forces  at  Donelson. 

The  fort  was  fairly  well  invested  in  twenty-four 
hours,  "when  15,000  Federal  troops,  without  iutrench- 
ment,  confronted  an  intrenched  army  of  21,000."  For 
two  days  there  were  several  sharp  attacks  by  both  sides ; 
but  "the  sun  went  down  on  the  night  of  the  14th 
of  February,  1862,  leaving  the  army  before  Fort  Donel- 
son anything  but  comforted  over  the  prospects."  On 
that  day  Foote  endeavored  to  repeat  on  the  Cumberland 
the  victory  he  had  won  on  the  Tennessee ;  but  the  gar- 
rison had  the  advantage,  and  in  less  than  two  hours 
every  boat  in  the  flotilla  was  disabled  and  the  flag 
officer  severely  wounded. 

The  weather  was  bitterly  cold,  the  troops  were  with- 
out tents,  and  many  were  destitute  of  blankets  and  over- 
coats. But  the  dauntless  courage  and  the  confidence  of 
the  commander  were  the  hope  of  the  army.  On  Saturday 
morning,  the  15th,  he  was  supplied  with  an  abundance 
of  ammunition,  and  was  reinforced  with  10,000  men. 
At  the  break  of  day  on  Saturday,  Foote  sent  a  messen- 


THE   COUNTRY   IS   ELECTRIFIED  95 

ger  to  General  Grant  asking  for  a  consultation.  The 
General  hastened  to  the  flagship  St.  Louis,  some  five 
miles  distant ;  and  after  a  brief  meeting  he  started  for 
the  army  and  on  his  way  was  met  by  a  staff  officer  who 
informed  him  that  McClernand's  division  was  in  danger 
from  a  severe  attack  by  the  enemy.  Galloping  at  full 
speed  the  General  reached  the  lines  about  nine  o'clock, 
and  found  that  a  portion  of  the  army  was  becoming  al- 
most paralyzed — not  from  the  want  of  courage,  but 
because  their  cartridge  boxes  were  nearly  empty.  He 
lost  no  time  in  riding  down  the  line  and  shouting  to  the 
men,  "Fill  your  cartridge  boxes,  quick,  the  enemy  is 
trying  to  escape,  but  don't  let  them  get  away!"  This 
gave  the  troops  renewed  courage ;  and  Grant  afterwards 
said :  "I  saw  that  either  side  was  ready  to  give  way  if 
the  other  showed  a  bold  front.  I  took  the  opportunity 
to  order  an  advance  along  the  whole  line."  The  fight- 
ing was  fierce  from  beginning  to  end.  Every  division 
commander  did  gallant  work  on  that  day.  The  brave, 
strong  soldiers  from  the  West  fought  with  such  courage 
and  persistence  under  the  inspiring  leadership  of  their 
commander  that  the  close  of  Saturday  made  the  fall  of 
Donelson  certain. 

Two  of  the  Confederate  commanders — Pillow  and 
Buckner — knew  Grant,  and  were  convinced  that  it 
would  be  a  useless  sacrifice  of  life  to  resist  an  attack  on 
Sunday  morning.  So  a  council  of  war  was  held  in  the 
quiet  of  Saturday  night,  with  the  result  that  Floyd,  in 
command,  and  Pillow,  next  in  rank,  slipped  away  with 


96  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

a  small  force,  and  the  humiliation  of  surrendering  was 
shifted  on  Buckner,  General  Grant's  chum  at  West 
Point. 

At  dawn  of  Sunday,  February  16th,  1862,  Buckner 
sent  General  Grant  a  note  requesting  the  appointment 
of  commissioners  to  agree  upon  terms  of  capitulation. 
But  Grant  was  not  playing  war,  and  immediately  he 
dispatched  the  following  note  to  his  old  comrade : 

"General  8.  B.  Buckner,  Confederate  Army. 

"Sir:  Yours  of  this  date  proposing  armistice  and  appoint- 
ment of  commissioners  to  settle  terms  of  capitulation  is  just  re- 
ceived. No  terms  except  an  unconditional  and  immediate  sur- 
render can  be  accepted. 

"I  propose  to  move  immediately  upon  your  works. 

"U.  S.  GRANT,  Brigadier  General." 

General  Buckner  saw  grim  humor  in  the  note,  but 
knowing  something  of  Grant,  he  gracefully  accepted  the 
situation.  The  capture  was  from  12,000  to  15,000 
prisoners,  20,000  stands  of  arms,  65  cannon,  3,000 
horses,  and  a  large  quantity  of  commissary  stores.  In 
no  other  department  of  the  army  had  so  decisive  a 
victory  been  won.  It  was  an  inspiration  to  the  country. 
The  victories  at  Henry  and  Donelson  raised  the  dark 
curtain  which  before  had  almost  hidden  hope  for  the 
future. 

Four  days  after  the  battle  General  Grant  wrote: 
"For  four  successive  nights,  without  shelter  during  the 
most  inclement  weather  known  in  this  latitude,  the 
troops  faced  an  enemy  in  large  force  in  a  position  chosen 
by  himself;  and  we  secured  the  greatest  number  of 


THE   COUNTRY   18   ELECTRIFIED  97 

prisoners  of  war  ever  taken  in  a  battle  on  this  contin- 
ent." And  without  vainglory  he  might  have  said  that 
Donelson  was  as  great  and  significant  a  victory  as  the 
capitulation  of  Ulm  to  Napoleon,  which  has  filled  such 
a  large  space  in  history. 

There  is  a  beautiful  incident  connected  with  the 
fall  of  the  stronghold  on  the  Cumberland  which  General 
Grant  was  too  modest  to  include  in  the  Memoirs. 
Many  years  after  the  event,  General  Buckner,  speaking 
at  a  Grant  birthday  gathering,  said:  "  *  *  * 
"Under  these  cicumstances  I  surrendered  to  General 
Grant.  I  had  at  a  previous  time  befriended  him,  and 
it  has  been  justly  said  that  he  never  forgot  an  act  of 
kindness.  I  met  him  on  the  boat  (at  the  surrender), 
and  he  followed  me  when  I  went  to  my  quarters.  He 
left  the  officers  of  his  own  army  and  followed  me,  with 
that  modest  manner  peculiar  to  him,  into  the  shadow, 
and  there  he  tendered  me  his  purse.  It  seems  to  me  that 
in  the  modesty  of  his  nature  he  was  afraid  the  light 
would  witness  that  act  of  generosity,  and  sought  to  hide 
it  from  the  world." 

The  story  of  the  relationship  between  Grant  and 
Halleck  can  be  read  only  with  regret.  Although  the 
news  that  Donelson  had  fallen  caused  abounding  joy  in 
the  North,  and  the  government  at  Washington  was  filled 
with  cheer  and  took  on  new  hope,  not  a  word  of  personal 
congratulation  came  from  Halleck.  Perhaps  jealousy, 
so  common  in  the  army,  got  the  better  of  his  judgment. 
And  McClellan,  who,  as  yet  had  accomplished  nothing, 


98  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

was  also  silent.  But  the  most  curious  thing  of  all  is 
that  Halleck  should  ask  for  the  command  of  the  West  in 
return  for  the  capture  of  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson. 
Perhaps  he  claimed  this  enlargement  of  his  powers  by 
the  strange  process  of  reasoning  that  "he  permitted 
Grant  to  capture  Fort  Henry,  and  did  not  prevent  him 
from  capturing  Fort  Donelson."  Halleck  was  then,  as 
afterwards,  seeking  "to  reap  where  he  had  not  sown." 
And  more  than  this,  his  dispatches  to  Washington  re- 
flected on  Grant  as  a  commander  by  indicating  that  he 
would  have  been  defeated  except  for  the  able  general- 
ship of  Smith,  therefore  he  asked  that  the  latter  be 
made  the  senior  major  general.  But  before  Halleck 
could  tell  the  President  his  wants,  Stanton,  on  Monday 
morning  following  the  surrender,  proposed  that  General 
Grant  be  raised  to  the  rank  of  major  general,  and  im- 
mediately Lincoln  made  the  nomination,  and  following 
this  promotion  came  those  of  Smith,  McClernand,  and 
Wallace  in  recognition  of  their  ability  and  bravery  in 
battle. 

In  three  days  after  the  capture  of  Donelson  Halleck 
telegraphed  McClellan :  "Give  me  the  Western  division 
of  the  army  and  I  will  split  secession  in  twain  in  one 
month."  And  on  the  same  day  he  wired  the  War  De- 
partment: "If  Buell  will  come  down  and  help  me  we 
can  end  the  war  in  the  West  in  less  than  a  month." 
But  neither  McClellan  nor  the  War  Department  was 
influenced  by  these  boastful  dispatches.  So  far  as 
McClellan  was  concerned,  Buell  was  his  personal  friend. 


THE   COUNTRY  18   ELECTRIFIED  99 

and  he  did  not  propose  that  he  should  play  second  to 
Halleck.  And  futhermore,  McClellan  was  deeply  con- 
cerned in  the  question  as  to  how  Halleck's  sudden  suc- 
cess in  the  Western  department  would  affect  his  own 
standing  and  authority  as  Commander  of  all  the  armies. 

Commenting  on  this  instinct  of  jealousy,  Nicolay 
and  Hay  say:  "While  the  three  generals  (McClellan, 
Halleck,  and  Buell)  were  discussing  high  strategy  and 
grand  campaigns  by  telegraph,  and  probably  deliberat- 
ing with  more  anxiety  the  possibilities  of  personal  fame, 
the  simple  soldering  of  Grant  and  Foote  was  solving 
some  of  the  problems  that  confused  scientific  hy- 
potheses." 

While  the  siege  of  Donelson  was  going  on,  Brigadier 
General  William  T.  Sherman  was  in  command  of  the 
mouth  of  the  Cumberland.  He  was  General  Grant's 
senior  in  rank,  but  he  took  a  personal  interest  in  the 
commander  at  Donelson,  anol  wrote  him  notes  of  en- 
couragement, sent  him  reinforcements  and  supplies  as 
rapidly  as  possible,  and  requested  him  to  disregard 
rank  and  call  upon  him  for  such  assistance  as  he  might 
need.  This  was  the  beginning  of  a  friendship  as  beau- 
tiful as  that  of  Damon  and  Pythias,  and  a  love  of  one 
for  the  other  as  warm  and  lasting  as  that  sealed  by  the 
covenant  of  David  and  Jonathan. 

A  few  days  after  the  victory  at  Donelson,  a  new  and 
encouraging  voice  was  raised  in  favor  of  General  Grant. 
Roanoke  Island,  in  North  Carolina,  was  captured  on 
the  7th  day  of  February  by  General  Burnside  and  Com- 


100  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

modore  Goldsborough.  This  event,  with  the  fall  of 
Forts  Henry  and  Donelson,  aroused  the  patriotic  en- 
thusiasm of  Horace  Greeley,  and  in  the  Tribune  of  the 
18th  of  the  month  he  stated  that  to  Edwin  M.  Stanton 
more  than  to  any  other  individual,  "these  auspicious 
events  are  due."  Mr.  Stanton,  not  wishing  to  accept 
such  adulation,  wrote  a  letter  to  Mr.  Greeley,  in  which 
he  said :  "We  may  well  rejoice  at  the  recent  victories, 
for  they  teach  that  battles  are  to  be  won  now,  and  by  us, 
in  the  same  and  only  way  that  they  were  ever  won  by 
any  people  since  the  days  of  Joshua,  by  boldly  pursuing 
and  striking  the  foe.  What,  under  the  blessing  of 
Providence,  I  conceive  to  be  the  true  organization  of 
victory  and  military  combination  to  end  this  war  was 
declared  in  a  few  words  by  General  Grant's  message  to 
General  Buckner:  'I  propose  to  move  immediately 
upon  your  works.' ' 

The  story  of  General  Grant's  smoking  habit  cannot 
be  separated  from  the  history  of  Donelson.  It  was  given 
to  General  Horace  Porter  by  Grant  many  years  after 
the  victory :  "I  had  been  a  light  smoker  previous  to  the 
attack  on  Donelson.  .  .  .  Admiral  Foote  having 
been  wounded,  at  his  request,  I  went  to  his  flagship  to 
confer  with  him.  He  gave  me  a  cigar,  which  I  smoked 
on  my  way  back  to  my  headquarters.  On  the  road  I 
was  met  by  a  staff  officer,  who  announced  that  the  enemy 
was  making  a  vigorous  attack.  I  galloped  forward,  and 
while  riding  among  the  troops,  giving  directions  for 
repelling  the  assault,  I  carried  the  cigar  in  my  hand. 


THE   COUNTRY  18  ELECTRIFIED  101 

It  had  gone  out,  but  it  seems  that  I  continued  to  hold 
the  stump  between  my  fingers  throughout  the  battle 
(Saturday).  In  the  accounts  published  in  the  papers 
I  was  represented  as  smoking  a  cigar  in  the  midst  of  the 
conflict;  and  many  persons,  thinking,  no  doubt,  that 
tobacco  was  my  chief  solace,  sent  me  boxes  of  the 
choicest  brands  from  everywhere  in  the  North.  As 
many  as  ten  thousand  were  soon  received.  I  gave  away 
all  I  could  get  rid  of,  but  having  such  a  quantity  on 
hand  I  naturally  smoked  more  than  I  would  have  done 
under  ordinary  circumstances,  and  I  have  continued  the 
habit  ever  since." 

Among  the  noteworthy  surprises  associated  with  the 
winning  of  Donelson  is  that,  despite  all  embarrassing 
conditions,  raw  troops,  overflowing  rivers,  heavy  rain, 
severe  snow  and  cold,  General  Grant,  so  fresh  from 
obscurity,  should  win  the  first  decisive  battle  of  the  War 
of  the  Rebellion ;  and  that  this  plain  man,  as  unassum- 
ing as  a  private  soldier,  should  become  the  first  stirring 
force  in  the  field  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union. 


XVII. 
HALLECK  SEEKS  GRANTS  DEBASEMENT. 


HILE  the  soul  of  the  North  was  inflamed 
with  joy,  and  the  President  and  Congress 
were  greatly  encouraged  by  the  decisive 
victory  at  Donelson,  General  Grant  was 
incurring  the  displeasure  of  Halleck.  A  few  days  after 
that  battle  General  Grant  desired  to  go  to  Nashville  to 
learn  the  condition  of  the  city,  that  territory  being 
within  the  limits  of  his  command.  He  therefore  tele- 
graphed Halleck — who  was  still  in  St.  Louis — that  he 
would  go  to  Nashville  on  the  28th  of  February,  unless 
otherwise  ordered.  No  response  coming  from  him, 
General  Grant  proceeded  to  Nashville,  and  found  that 
General  Buell,  with  his  army,  had  just  reached  the  east 
side  of  the  river,  opposite  the  city,  which  was  the  first 
meeting  of  the  two  generals  in  the  war. 

This  meeting  brought  out  a  noteworthy   incident 
which  illustrates  the  difference  in  the  capacity  for  dis- 


HALLECK  8EEK8  GRANT'S  DEBASEMENT     103 

cernment  of  these  commanders.  General  Grant  had 
quickly  studied  the  condition  of  affairs  and  told 
General  Buell  that  the  enemy  was  retreating  as  rapidly 
as  possible  on  the  west  side.  But  General  Buell  in- 
sisted that  fighting  was  going  on  only  ten  or  twelve  miles 
away,  and  wanted  more  troops  with  which  to  defend  the 
city.  General  Grant  maintained  that  the  firing  which 
Buell  heard  was  only  a  fight  with  the  rear-guard  of  the 
retreating  enemy.  General  Buell  was  pessimistic,  and 
with  great  emphasis  said  that  he  "knew"  Nashville  was 
in  danger;  but  in  less  than  twenty-four  hours,  as  Gen- 
eral Grant  had  already  asserted,  "the  enemy  was  trying 
to  get  away  from  Nashville,  and  not  return  to  it." 

A  deplorable  course  of  events  followed  immediately 
after  General  Grant's  successful  campaign  in  Tennes- 
see. He  was  singularly  unfortunate  after  leaving  Cairo 
on  the  2nd  of  February  for  the  campaigns  against  Forts 
Henry  and  Donelson,  in  not  promptly  receiving  dis- 
patches from  the  commander  of  the  department.  And 
on  the  other  hand,  there  was  a  like  delay  in  the  trans- 
mission of  dispatches  from  General  Grant  to  Halleck. 
The  telegraph  line  was  a  rickety  affair  at  best,  ran 
through  a  hostile  country,  and  was  usually  out  of  re- 
pair ;  but  many  of  the  dispatches  sent  to  General  Grant 
were  lost  by  the  treachery  of  an  operator  who  proved  to 
be  a  Confederate  in  disguise. 

The  first  two  weeks  in  March  were  weeks  of  intense 
humiliation  to  General  Grant.  His  great  victories  did 
not  save  him  from  the  machinations  of  a  secret  foe.  On 


104  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

Sunday  morning,  March  2nd,  1862,  General  McClellan, 
desiring  to  give  private  orders  for  the  movements  of 
Halleck's  and  Buell's  commands,  went  to  the  military 
telegraph  office  at  his  headquarters  as  general  of  the 
army  of  the  Potomac,  in  Washington,  and  caused  com- 
munication to  be  cut  off  from  all  wires  westward,  except 
those  leading  to  Halleck's  headquarters  in  St.  Louis, 
and  Buell's  in  Louisville.  Over  this  exclusive  wire 
Halleck  sent  to  McClellan  this  message : 

"I  have  had  no  communication  from  Grant  all  week.  He 
left  his  command  without  my  authority  and  went  to  Nashville. 
.  .  .  Satisfied  with  his  victory,  he  sits  and  enjoys  it  without 
regard  to  the  future.  I  am  worn  out  and  tired  with  his  neglect 
and  inefficiency.  General  Smith  is  almost  the  only  officer  equal 
to  the  emergency." 

Despite  this  libellous  charge  made  by  Halleck,  and 
the  affirmation  by  McClellan  that  he  himself  was  "al- 
ways" very  friendly  to  Grant,  he  did  not  take  time  to 
investigate  the  charges,  and  on  the  following  morning 
the  same  private  wire  carried  back  to  Halleck  this 
answer : 

"Generals  must  observe  discipline  as  well  as  private  soldiers. 
Do  not  hesitate  to  arrest  him  at  once,  if  the  good  of  the  service 
requires  it,  and  place  General  Smith  in  command." 

Still  unrelenting  in  his  purpose  to  damage  General 
Grant's  character,  Halleck  sent  to  McClellan,  on  the  4th 
of  March,  and  over  the  same  exclusive  wire,  this  dis- 
patch : 

"A  rumor  has  reached  me  that  since  the  taking  of  Donelson, 
Grant  has  resumed  his  former  bad  habits.  If  so,  it  will  account 
for  his  repeated  neglect  of  my  often  repeated  orders." 


HALLECK  SEEKS  GRANT'S  DEBASEMENT     105 

On  the  2nd  of  March  General  Grant  was  ordered  to 
take  his  forces  from  Donelson  to  Fort  Henry,  and  on 
his  arrival  there  on  the  4th  he  found  the  following 
dispatch  from  Halleck : 
"Maj.-Gen.  U.  S.  Grant,  Fort  Henry: 

"You  will  place  Major  General  C.  F.  Smith  in  command  of 
the  expedition,  and  remain  yourself  at  Fort  Henry.  Why  do  you 
not  obey  my  orders  to  report  strength  and  positions  of  your 
command?"  W.  H.  HALLECK,  Major  General." 

The  expedition  referred  to  in  this  dispatch  was  the 
taking  of  a  large  part  of  General  Grant's  command  up 
the  Tennessee — an  unconscious  movement  in  bringing 
on  the  battle  of  Shiloh.  Of  course  he  was  astounded  by 
the  injustice  of  such  an  order.  He  could  not  imagine 
who  or  what  inspired  it.  Nothing  in  the  history  of  war 
was  more  grotesque  than  those  two  office  generals 
McClellan  and  Halleck — sitting  in  solemn  judgment 
upon  the  hero  of  Donelson ;  and  very  naturally  General 
Grant  was  pricked  to  the  heart  to  think  that  some  secret 
foe  was  contriving  to  lower  his  rank  in  the  army. 

If  one  wants  a  lesson  in  patience,  in  self-restraint, 
in  coolness  of  judgment,  and  in  loyalty  to  duty,  he  must 
study  the  conduct  of  General  Grant  during  the  ninety 
days  immediately  following  Donelson.  In  singularity 
and  pathos  nothing  in  the  career  of  any  distinguished 
commander  equals  it.  His  dispatch  to  Halleck  on  the 
5th  of  March  shows  how  firmly  General  Grant  had  com- 
mand of  his  temper.  With  positiveness,  and  yet  with 
modesty  and  politeness,  he  informed  the  commander  of 


106  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

the  department  that  he  had  made  daily  reports  of  his 
movements;  and  he  adds: 

"Believing  sincerely  that  I  must  have  enemies,  between  you 
and  myself,  who  are  trying  to  impair  my  usefulness,  I  respect- 
fully ask  to  be  relieved  from  further  duty  in  the  department." 

The  orders  relieving  him  went  into  effect  at  once, 
and  the  expedition  moved  up  the  Tennessee  under  the 
command  of  General  Smith,  his  junior  in  rank.  Gen- 
eral Grant  never  forgot  the  trial  of  his  soul  at  that 
time.  Within  a  few  months  of  his  death  he  wrote  these 
pathetic  lines : 

"Thus  in  less  than  two  weeks  after  the  victory  at  Donelson, 
the  two  leading  generals  of  the  army  were  in  correspondence  as 
to  what  disposition  should  be  made  of  me,  and  in  less  than  three 
weeks  I  was  virtually  in  arrest  and  without  a  command." 

A  few  days  after  the  dispatches,  so  damaging  to 
General  Grant,  were  sent  by  Halleck  to  Washington,  all 
the  records  which  related  to  the  general  command  of  the 
army  were  consolidated  in  the  office  of  the  adjutant 
general  in  the  War  Department.  Mr.  Gorham,  in  his 
life  of  Stanton,  says: 

"This  brought  to  light  much  information  which  was  new  to 
the  President  and  the  Secretary  of  War.  Among  these  discov- 
eries were  the  private  dispatches  from  Halleck  to  McClellan  of 
March  2nd  and  4th,  1862,  so  damaging  to  Grant.  .  .  .  This 
evidently  was  the  first  knowledge  the  War  Department  had  that 
they  (the  charges)  had  been  made  by  Halleck." 

On  the  10th  of  March,  Adjutant  General  Thomas,  of 
the  army,  requested  from  Halleck  a  report  as  to  the 
ground  upon  which  the  harsh  accusations  against 
General  Grant  were  made.  This  peremptory  request 


HALLEGK  SEEKS  GRANT'S  DEBASEMENT     107 

from  Thomas  forced  Halleck  into  a  trap  of  his  own  in- 
venting. Not  being  in  possession  of  any  facts  with 
which  to  sustain  the  cruel  charges,  he  contented  himself 
with  the  simple  suggestion  that  no  further  notice  be 
taken  of  the  matter. 

One  cannot  read  this  singular  incident  of  the  war 
without  being  amazed  at  the  part  played  in  it  by 
McClellan.  He  did  not  then  explain,  nor  at  any  time 
thereafter,  by  what  sort  of  reasoning  he  justified  him- 
self in  being  so  ready  to  suggest  the  deep  humiliation  of 
his  friend  and  comrade  when  there  was  not  at  hand  any 
tangible  evidence  to  support  the  terrible  accusations. 
Another  and  an  amazing  feature  of  the  incident  is,  that 
when  McClellan  had  all  the  light  necessary  to  prove  the 
falsity  of  the  charges,  and  General  Grant  was  still  in  the 
dark  as  to  the  identity  of  his  secret  foe,  he  did  not 
promptly  take  measures  to  relieve  him  of  the  load  of 
blame  which  rested  so  heavily  upon  him.  In  My  Own 

Story,  McClellan  says : 

"More  than  a  year  after  the  event,  General  William  B. 
Franklin  wrote  me  that  on  meeting  General  Grant  at  Memphis 
.  .  .  he  asked  what  had  made  me  hostile  to  him.  Franklin 
replied  that  he  knew  I  was  not  hostile,  but  very  friendly  to  him. 
Grant  then  said  that  that  could  not  be  so,  for,  without  reason, 
I  had  ordered  Halleck  to  relieve  him  from  command  and  arrest 
him  soon  after  Fort  Donelson,  and  that  Halleck  had  interposed 
to  save  him.  I  took  no  steps  to  undeceive  Grant,  trusting  to 
time  to  elucidate  the  question." 

Milton  says:  "Let  Truth  and  Falsehood  grapple 
in  a  free  and  open  encounter,  and  who  ever  knew 
Truth  being  put  to  the  worse?"  But  in  General 


108 

Grant's  case,  McClellan  did  not  seem  inclined  to  give 
Truth  a  fair  chance  in  the  grapple.  And  after  a  lapse 
of  forty-six  years,  time  has  not  elucidated  the  motive 
which  prompted  McClellan  to  order  the  arrest  of  Grant. 

McClellan  was  relieved  from  the  command  of  all 
the  armies  of  the  Union  on  the  llth  of  March,  1862, 
and  Halleck  not  being  able  to  make  good  his  charges 
against  General  Grant,  the  latter  was  restored  to  his 
command  on  the  17th  of  the  same  month,  and  at  once 
he  proceeded  to  Savanna.  Halleck  furnished  him  a 
copy  of  a  dispatch  from  himself  to  Washington  entirely 
exonerating  him,  "but"  say  the  Memoirs,  "he  did  not 
inform  me  that  it  was  his  own  reports  that  had  created 
all  the  trouble."  When  he  arrived  at  Savanna  to  re- 
lieve General  Smith,  he  found  him  in  a  sick  bed,  the 
result  of  an  injury  received  when  stepping  on  a  boat  at 
Donelson,  and  from  which  he  died  on  the  25th  of 
April,  1862. 

A  valuable  contribution  to  the  history  of  Halleck's 
ill  treatment  of  Grant  is  the  following  letter  written  by 
the  latter  to  Mrs.  Grant  a  few  days  after  he  assumed 
command  of  the  forces  at  Savanna : 

"SAVANNA,  March  29,  1862. 

"All  the  slanders  you  have  seen  against  me  originated  away 
from  where  I  was.  The  only  foundation  was  from  the  fact  that 
I  was  ordered  to  remain  at  Fort  Henry  and  send  the  expedition 
under  Major-General  Smith.  This  was  ordered  because  General 
Halleck  received  no  report  from  me  for  nearly  two  weeks  after 
the  fall  of  Donelson.  The  same  occurred  with  me.  I  received 
nothing  from  him.  .  .  . 


HALLECK  SEEKS  GRANT'S  DEBASEMENT     109 

"When  I  was  ordered  to  remain  behind,  it  was  the  cause  of 
much  astonishment  among  the  troops  of  my  command,  and  also 
disappointment.  I  never  allowed  a  word  of  contradiction  to  go 
out  from  my  headquarters.  You  need  not  fear  but  what  I  shall 
come  out  triumphantly.  I  am  pulling  no  wires,  as  political  gen- 
erals do,  to  advance  myself.  I  have  no  future  ambition.  My 
object  is  to  carry  on  my  part  of  this  war  successfully,  and  I  am 
perfectly  willing  that  others  may  make  all  the  glory  they  can 
out  of  it." 

The  letter  is  characteristic  of  the  man.  It  reveals  a 
strong  head,  a  stout  heart,  a  prophetic  eye,  and  a  sub- 
lime confidence  in  himself,  when  an  officer,  superior  in 
rank,  was  intriguing  for  his  debasement. 


XVIII. 
SHILOH  AND  VICTORY. 

|  T  has  already  been  noted  that  General  Grant 
assumed  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Ten- 
nessee on  the  17th  of  March,  and  that  he 
immediately  proceeded  to  Savanna,  on  the 
east  bank  of  the  Tennessee  river.  The  town  is  two  hun- 
dred and  ten  miles  from  Paducah,  where  the  river 
empties  into  the  Ohio.  Nine  miles  farther  up  the  Ten- 
nessee (southward)  was  historic  Pittsburg  Landing, 
then  almost  uninhabited.  Twenty-two  miles  to  the 
southwest  of  the  Landing  was  Corinth,  Miss.,  small  in 
population,  but  large  in  its  importance  as  a  strategic 
point  because  of  its  railway  intersections.  General 
Grant  was  not  insensible  to  the  value  of  the  position  as 
a  railway  center,  and  on  being  restored  to  his  command 
he  began  to  gather  his  forces  at  Pittsburg  Landing  for 
the  purpose  of  striking  a  blow  at  Corinth. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  movement  to  Pittsburg 


SHILOH  AND  VICTORY  111 

Landing,  General  Grant's  army  consisted  of  five  divis- 
ions, under  the  command  of  William  T.  Sherman,  John 
A.  McClernand,  Stephen  A.  Hurlbut,  Lew  Wallace, 
and,  General  Smith  being  ill,  his  division  was  placed 
temporarily  under  the  command  of  W.  H.  L.  Wallace. 
Buell  had  been  ordered  from  Nashville  with  his  army 
of  40,000,  and  was  to  join  General  Grant  at  Savanna. 
During  the  interval  between  taking  command  of  the 
army  and  the  opening  of  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  he  usually 
spent  the  day  at  the  Landing  counselling  with  his  gen- 
erals and  returning  to  Savanna  in  the  evening.  His 
purpose  was  to  move  his  headquarters  to  that  point  as 
early  as  the  3d  or  4th  of  April,  but  the  Memoirs  say: 
"Buell  was  expected  daily  and  would  come  in  at  Sa- 
vanna. ...  I  therefore  remained  at  this  point  a 
few  days  longer  than  I  otherwise  should  have  done  in 
order  to  meet  him  on  his  arrival." 

By  no  principle  of  aggressive  warfare  could  a  clash 
of  arms  in  the  vicinity  of  Pittsburg  Landing  be  averted. 
It  was  while  General  Grant  was  practically  in  retire- 
ment during  the  first  two  weeks  in  March  that  General 
Charles  F.  Smith,  then  in  temporary  command,  selected 
this  place  at  which  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  should  be 
concentrated ;  and  when  General  Grant  was  restored  to 
his  command  and  ordered  to  Savanna,  he  visited  the 
Landing  and  making  a  careful  study  of  the  ground, 
said :  "This  is  the  place  from  which  to  begin  the  move- 
ment against  the  enemy."  And  it  was  well  that  that 
part  of  the  West  was  the  place  where  the  manhood,  the 


112  GRANT,  THE  MAX  OF  MYSTERY 

courage,  and  the  endurance  of  the  Army  of  the  Ten- 
nessee under  General  Grant,  and  the  Confederate  forces 
under  General  Albert  Sydney  Johnston,  should  be 
tested. 

General  Johnston  seems  to  have  been  informed  of 
Buell's  movement ;  and  in  an  aggressive  mood  he  laid  a 
plan  "to  whip  Grant  before  Buell  could  join  him,  then 
whip  Buell,  and  having  thus  disposed  of  the  Northern 
forces  in  detail,  to  carry  the  war  up  into  Ohio."  There- 
fore, Johnston,  in  his  self-confidence  issued  a  grandilo- 
quent address  to  his  army,  and  on  Saturday  he  began 
the  march  to  his  Waterloo. 

At  three  o'clock  on  Sunday  morning,  April  6th, 
three  companies  of  the  Forty-fifth  Missouri  regiment 
were  sent  out  from  General  Prentiss'  division  to  recon- 
noiter.  Going  in  a  southwesterly  course  they  struck 
the  enemy's  pickets  a  short  distance  from  the  front  of 
Sherman's  division.  Shots  were  exchanged,  and  the 
firing  being  heard  by  General  Johnston,  who,  with  his 
staff,  was  taking  an  early  breakfast,  he  asked  his  son 
Preston  to  record  the  time.  It  was  exactly  fourteen 
minutes  past  five  o'clock,  and  the  order  to  advance  was 
given  immediately. 

At  the  same  hour  that  Johnston  and  his  staff  were 
taking  an  early  breakfast  two  or  three  miles  from  the 
advanced  line  of  the  Union  forces,  General  Grant  and 
his  staff  were  breakfasting  at  Savanna.  Suddenly  firing 
was  heard  in  the  direction  of  Pittsburg  Landing.  In 
five  minutes  the  General  and  his  staff  were  steaming  up 


SHILOH  AND  VICTORY  113 

the  Tennessee.  The  firing  was  the  shock  of  battle.  Shi- 
loh  had  begun.  He  arrived  at  the  Landing  between 
eight  and  nine  o'clock,  and  found  considerable  confu- 
sion among  the  troops.  For  three  hours  there  had  been 
no  one  to  direct  them.  The  General  lost  no  time  in 
riding  to  the  front,  and  giving  such  orders  as  conditions 
seemed  to  demand.  As  time  passed,  the  fury  of  the 
conflict  increased.  From  sunrise  to  sunset  it  was  a 
desperate  struggle  on  both  sides.  Americans  were  fight- 
ing Americans.  Men  fell  fast  on  every  hand.  In  the 
Union  Army,  except  perhaps  on  the  extreme  left,  bri- 
gade after  brigade  and  division  after  division  staggered 
in  the  effort  to  hold  their  positions.  Hundreds  upon 
hundreds  of  troops  which  had  never  before  scented  pow- 
der in  battle  became  panic-stricken.  An  unintermitting 
tempest  of  bullets,  shot,  and  shells  raged  throughout 
the  day.  "Everything  seemed  to  be  quaking." 

But  all  through  the  scene  of  carnage,  the  rolling 
back  of  troops,  the  loss  of  ground,  the  man  who  bore 
the  tremendous  responsibility  of  victory  or  defeat  had 
hope  in  reserve.  Hope  is  not  worth  counting  where  con- 
ditions are  hopeful ;  but  on  that  eventful  Sunday  after- 
noon, when  other  commanders  seemed  almost  in  de- 
spair, General  Grant's  hope  shone  like  a  star  through 
the  darkness.  Candid  and  dispassionate  testimony  on 
this  point  is  given  by  Mr.  Whitelaw  Reid,  distinguished 
as  a  war  correspondent,  and  who  was  on  the  battlefield 
at  the  time :  "The  tremendous  roar  on  the  left,  momen- 
tarily nearer  and  nearer,  told  of  an  effort  to  cut  him  off 


114  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

from  the  river  and  from  retreat.  Grant  sat  on  his  horse, 
quiet,  thoughtful,  almost  stolid.  Said  one  to  him,  'Does 
not  the  prospect  begin  to  look  gloomy?'  'Not  at  all,' 
was  the  quiet  reply.  'They  can't  force  our  lines  around 
these  batteries  to-night,  it  is  too  late.  Delay  counts 
everything  with  us.  To-morrow  we  shall  attack  them 
with  fresh  troops  and  drive  them  of  course.'  I  was  my- 
self a  listener  to  this  conversation,  and  from  it  I  date, 
in  my  own  case  at  least,  the  beginning  of  any  belief  in 
Grant's  greatness." 

For  twelve  hours  every  physical  energy  of  General 
Grant  and  his  army  had  been  taxed  to  its  utmost  en- 
durance by  such  a  conflict  as  this  continent  had  never 
seen  before.  The  powerful  forces  which  were  hurled 
against  him  had  greatly  depleted  his  army.  Prentiss 
and  his  division  had  been  captured.  W.  H.  L.  Wallace 
fell  mortally  wounded.  The  commands  of  Sherman 
and  McClernand  which  did  the  hardest  fighting  of  the 
day  at  the  little  Shiloh  church  (after  which  the  battle 
takes  its  name)  were  rolled  back.  Much  ground  had 
been  lost,  practically  nothing  gained.  And  no  doubt 
amidst  these  awful  battle  scenes,  with  his  troops  in  the 
extreme  of  exhaustion,  General  Grant  felt  like  calling 
out :  "Would  to  heaven  that  Buell  or  night  would  come." 

General  Johnston  was  mortally  wounded  in  the 
afternoon,  but  still  determined  "to  whip  Grant,"  he  con- 
tinued to  give  orders  till  weakness  caused  him  to  faint, 
and  on  being  taken  from  his  horse,  he  expired  in  a  few 
minutes.  Beauregard  took  command,  and  the  story  was 


8HILOH  AND  VICTORY  115 

current  at  the  time  that  he  vowed  his  horse  would  drink 
of  the  waters  of  the  Tennessee  that  night.  But  he  did 
not  reckon  on  the  frailty  of  a  boast  emanating  from  a 
wild  imagination,  for  when  night  came,  Beauregard 
could  not  reach  the  Tennessee,  and  the  battle  was  more 
than  half  won  by  the  Union  army. 

In  support  of  this  view  of  the  condition  of  affairs  on 
Sunday  evening,  the  substance  of  a  page  from  the  Life 
of  Lincoln,  by  Nicolay  and  Hay,  is  of  much  value. 
The  plan  of  the  Confederates  was  to  get  possession  of 
Pittsburg  Landing,  cut  off  Grant's  means  of  retreat  by 
seizing  or  destroying  the  transports,  and  compel  him  to 
capitulate.  But  Grant  was  so  successful  in  shattering 
the  Confederate  plan  that  Beauregard  ordered  the  whole 
army  to  withdraw  from  the  fight,  and  to  go  into  bivouac 
until  the  following  day.  Eager  as  that  commander  was 
for  victory,  the  conclusion  had  been  forced  on  his  mind 
that,  for  that  day  at  least,  it  was  not  within  the  power 
of  his  army  to  complete  their  undertaking ;  and  accord- 
ingly, he  directed  that  the  fight  should  cease,  and  this 
determination  was  reached  when  he  did  not  know  that 
Buell  had  arrived. 

It  would  seem  that  among  thoughtful  and  unpreju- 
diced students  of  the  Civil  War,  there  can  hardly  be 
two  minds  as  to  the  value  of  General  Grant's  services 
during  the  strain  of  Sunday's  engagement.  Of  course 
"the  blind  and  intricate  battlefield  offered  little  chance 
to  either  side  for  careful  planning;  and  the  command- 
ing generals  were  not  able  to  render  the  usual  service." 


116  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

But  every  regiment,  brigade,  and  division  commander 
knew  that  General  Grant  was  on  the  field,  and  it  is 
hardly  a  matter  of  doubt  that  his  presence  had  much 
sustaining  influence.  On  this  point  there  is  significance 
in  the  remark  of  the  General  made  several  months  after 
the  battle.  When  asked  what  event  could  have  hap- 
pened to  change  the  result  on  Sunday  afternoon,  he 
said :  "If  either  Sherman  or  myself  had  been  seriously 
wounded  before  the  formation  of  the  last  line  near  the 
river  was  completed,  between  four  and  five  o'clock,  the 
field  would  probably  have  been  lost." 

After  General  Grant  had  commanded  on  many  bat- 
tlefields, he  was  asked  by  General  Porter :  "In  all  your 
battles  up  to  this  time,  where  do  you  think  your  pres- 
ence upon  the  field  was  most  useful  ?"  Hesitating  for  a 
moment  he  answered :  "Well,  I  don't  know."  But  after 
a  pause  he  said  in  an  impressive  tone:  "Perhaps  at 
Shiloh."  Then  he  instantly  changed  the  subject  for  he 
never  desired  to  speak  of  the  battle.  The  price  paid  for 
the  victory  had  a  peculiarly  depressing  effect  upon  him ; 
but  he  knew,  as  every  other  general  knew,  who  bore  his 
part  of  the  burden  and  responsibility  of  Sunday's  en- 
gagement, that  by  no  other  means  than  an  awful  sacri- 
fice could  victory  have  been  won. 

During  the  battle  on  Sunday  General  Grant  suffered 
persistent  pain  caused  by  a  bruised  ankle,  the  result  of 
his  horse  falling  on  the  previous  Friday  night,  which 
deprived  him  of  rest  and  sleep,  but  nevertheless  he  vis- 
ited every  important  part  of  the  field,  knew  personally 


SHILOH  AND  VICTORY  117 

the  condition  of  affairs,  and  on  Sunday  night  he  rode 
through  the  darkness  and  the  storm,  and  gave  orders  for 
the  renewal  of  the  battle  at  the  break  of  day. 

Colonel  Theophilus  L.  Dickey,  of  the  Fourth  Illi- 
nois Cavalry,  who,  after  the  war,  became  justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  his  State,  was  in  the  battle  of  Shiloh. 
He  says  that  after  nightfall  on  Sunday,  the  members  of 
the  General's  staff  were  discussing  what  seemed  to  them 
a  hopeless  situation,  and  the  Colonel  was  urged  to  go  to 
the  General  and  obtain  his  views  on  the  condition  of 
things.  The  Colonel  found  him  sitting  under  a  tree, 
his  only  shelter  from  the  beating  storm.  The  General 
listened  attentively  to  a  doleful  rehearsal  of  the  results 
of  Sunday's  battle ;  and  then,  straightening  out  his  un- 
injured leg,  he  asked :  "Dickey,  do  you  like  this  kind  of 
cavalry  boot?"  The  single  question  closed  the  inter- 
view. 

That  night  General  Grant  saw  the  members  of  his 
staff,  and  spreading  before  them  a  map,  he  called  their 
attention  to  the  position  of  the  enemy,  and  then  issued 
orders  which  were  to  be  executed  at  a  certain  time  on 
the  morrow  unless  other  contingencies  happened.  His 
staff  were  amazed,  and  at  once  they  saw  how  little  they 
understood  the  real  question ;  and  for  the  first  time  they 
seemed  to  realize  that  the  General  was  the  master  of  the 
situation. 

On  Sunday  circumstances  compelled  General  Grant 
to  fight  a  defensive  battle.  He  could  put  only  25,000 
men  in  line,  while  Johnston's  strength  was  not  less  than 


118  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

40,000.  But  on  Monday  morning,  Buell  placed  between 
18,000,  and  20,000  on  the  left,  and  Lew  Wallace  added 
5,000  or  6,000  on  the  right. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  the  matter  of  Buell's 
and  Wallace's  belated  arrival  at  Pittsburg  Landing. 
Neither  of  them  reached  the  field  in  time  to  take  part  in 
Sunday's  engagement.  But  when  these  officers  placed 
their  commands  on  the  firing  line  on  Monday,  they 
made  a  large  contribution  to  the  splendid  victory  of  the 
day.  As  both  sides  to  the  controversy  "have  had  their 
day  in  court/'  the  matter  should  be  relegated  to  the 
graveyard  of  dead  issues  never  to  be  resurrected. 

A  few  minutes  after  the  break  of  day  on  Monday, 
General  Grant's  army  fired  the  first  shot.  Beauregard 
seemed  determined  to  fight  an  offensive  battle.  At  once 
the  great  columns  of  the  Union  army  moved  steadily 
forward,  and  with  the  rising  of  the  sun  the  engagement 
became  general.  The  Federal  troops,  in  solid  ranks, 
and  with  a  continuous  fire,  regained  the  ground  lost  on 
Sunday.  At  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  while  Gen- 
eral Grant  was  closely  watching  the  progress  of  the  bat- 
tle, word  came  to  him  that  the  enemy  was  faltering  on 
the  left.  He  saw  that  the  time  had  come  for  the  final 
blow.  He  himself  was  within  musket  range  of  the 
enemy.  Quickly  he  sent  the  words  down  the  lines: 
"Now  is  the  time  to  drive  them."  The  charge  was 
made,  the  field  was  swept;  and  Shiloh  was  won. 

The  Union  loss  was  1,750  killed;  8,400  wounded; 
and  2,800  missing.  The  Confederate  loss  was  supposed 


SHILOB  AND  VICTORY  119 

to  be  much  greater,  as  the  estimate  of  burials  for  the 
whole  field  was  4,000. 

To  this  day  there  is  much  persistent  misunderstand- 
ing of  the  battle  of  Shiloh.  The  particulars  which  have 
formed  the  subject  of  dispute  relate  to  th«se  regarding 
the  situation  at  the  opening  of  the  battle  on  Sunday 
morning,  and  also  to  what  extent  the  presence  of  Gen- 
eral Grant  had  bearing  on  the  fortunes  of  the  day.  Some 
of  the  General's  harshest  critics  are  those  who  had  lit- 
tle or  nothing  to  do  with  the  battle  of  Sunday,  which 
calls  to  mind  one  of  Napoleon's  meditations  on  St.  Hel- 
ena: "Those  generals  only  who  never  commanded 
armies  in  the  field  have  not  committed  errors."  To  par- 
ticularize in  regard  to  the  blunders  imputed  to  General 
Grant,  in  not  being  prepared  against  surprise  by  the 
enemy,  in  defying  danger  by  choosing  an  advanced  posi- 
tion, in  failing  to  throw  up  intrenchments  by  which  to 
protect  his  troops,  and  in  not  providing  means  of  rapid 
retreat,  would  not  elucidate  the  subject  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  all  readers.  But  to  the  average  person  who 
knows  something  of  Grant  and  war  history,  it  is  quite 
humorous  to  find  critics  calling  the  General  imprudent 
in  not  seeking  safety  behind  earthworks,  and  in  not 
providing  a  way  for  rapid  retreat. 

In  his  judgment  General  Grant  had  no  need  of  in- 
trenchment,  as  it  was  his  purpose  to  take  Corinth  as 
soon  as  Buell  arrived;  and  it  is  idle  to  conjecture  what 
might  have  been  had  he  judged  otherwise.  He  was  com- 
missioned to  command  the  Armv  of  the  Tennessee  in 


120  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

its  movements  against  Johnston;  and  his  natural  bent 
of  mind  was  not  to  be  hammered  at  behind  intrench- 
ments,  but  to  move  at  the  earliest  possible  hour  against 
the  enemy's  works  of  Corinth.  General  Grant  clung 
with  tenacity  to  aggressive  tactics,  and  fought  behind 
fewer  breastworks  than  any  other  commander  in  the 
army,  and  his  success  was  incomparable.  No  being,  not 
gifted  with  prescience,  has  a  right  to  say  that  it  was  a 
criminal  blunder  not  to  fortify  even  for  the  short  time 
the  General  expected  to  remain  at  Pittsburg  Landing. 
A  great  battle  was  imminent  from  which  neither  side 
could  escape  with  honor.  The  powerful  opposing  forces 
could  not  clash  at  the  Landing,  with  or  without  intrench- 
ments,  nor  by  an  assault  upon  the  strong  works  at  Cor- 
inth, without  a  terrible  sacrifice  of  life.  General  John- 
ston attempted  to  take  General  Grant  by  surprise,  lost 
his  life  in  the  struggle  that  followed,  and  did  not  ac- 
complish a  single  purpose  for  which  he  brought  on  the 
battle ;  and  leaving  behind  him  more  than  ten  thousand 
in  killed,  wounded,  and  missing,  Beauregard  fled  back 
to  Corinth  disheartened. 

In  years  to  come  when  the  careful  historian,  un- 
biassed by  prejudice  or  passion,  with  all  the  facts  which 
the  light  of  history  can  reveal  before  him,  makes  record 
of  Shiloh,  that  record  will  clearly  show  that  in  contend- 
ing for  a  whole  day  with  a  force  superior  to  his  own, 
General  Grant  displayed  the  highest  qualities  of  cour- 
age, endurance,  and  generalship.  Thoughtful  military 
critics  marvel  that  in  all  the  circumstances,  he  saved 
himself  from  crushing  defeat ;  that  through  all  the  roar 


SHILOH  AND  VICTORY  121 

of  cannon,  din  of  musketry,  destruction  of  life,  break- 
ing of  lines,  staggering  columns,  doubt  and  despairs,  he 
did  not  lose  faith  in  himself  or  his  army,  and  that  amid 
the  excitement,  confusion,  vexations,  and  discourage- 
ments of  the  day,  he  was  so  calm  that  no  unkind  or 
doubtful  word,  or  harsh  command,  came  from  his  lips. 
Beauregard,  in  directing  that  his  attacks  should  cease  on 
Sunday  evening,  and  ordering  his  troops  to  withdraw 
until  the  following  day,  was  virtually  making  a  confes- 
sion that  General  Grant  had  thus  far  defeated  all  his 
purposes.  Men  marvel,  too,  that  Grant,  generous  in 
heart,  and  calm  and  fair  in  judgment,  did  not  impute 
neglect  of  duty  to  any  officers  or  men  engaged  in  that 
momentous  conflict  on  Sunday,  and  that  Shiloh  cost 
fewer  in  killed  and  wounded  than  any  other  victory  of 
the  same  magnitude  won  during  the  Civil  War.*  And 
the  wonder  of  all  wonders  of  the  war  is,  that  in  ten 
months  from  the  day  this  silent,  obscure,  unambitious 
man  was  given  the  command  of  a  volunteer  regiment, 
he  was  the  successful  commander  in  the  first  of  the  five 
greatest  battles  ever  fought  in  open  field  on  the  Ameri- 
can continent. 


*  The  following  are  the  Union  losses  in  killed  and  wounded  in 
the  five  greatest  battles  in  open  field  fought  in  the  Civil  War  :  Shi- 
loh —  Union  force,  1st  day,  33,000,  2nd  day,  48,000,  Confederate  force, 
40,300  ;  Union  k.  and  w.,  10,162.  Antietam  —  Union  forces,  75,300, 
Conf.  force,  estimated  from  45,000  to  70,000,  Union  k.  and  w.  11,600. 
Variously  described  as  a  Union  victory  and  as  indecisive.  Murfrees- 
boro  —  Union  force,  41,400,  Conf.  force,  34,700,  Union  k.  and  w. 
9,200.  Union  victory.  Gettysburg  —  Union  force,  78,000,  Conf.  force, 
75,000,  Union  k.  and  w.,  17,684.  Union  victory.  Chickamauga  —  Union 
force,  58,200,  Conf.  force,  66,300,  Union  k.  and  w.  11,400.  Union 
defeat. 


- 
fl 


XIX. 

AFTER  THE  BATTLE. 

HEN  the  smoke  of  battle  had  cleared  away, 
General  Grant  issued  the  following  general 
order : 

"The  general  commanding  congratulates  the  troops 
who  so  gallantly  repulsed  and  routed  a  numerically  superior  force 
of  the  enemy,  composed  of  the  flower  of  the  Southern  army,  com- 
manded by  their  ablest  generals,  and  fought  by  them  with  all  the 
desperation  of  despair. 

"In  numbers  engaged,  no  such  contest  ever  took  place  on  this 
continent;  in  importance  of  results,  but  few  such  have  taken 
place  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

"Whilst  congratulating  the  brave  and  gallant  soldiers,  it  be- 
comes the  duty  of  the  general  commanding  to  make  special  notice 
of  the  brave  wounded  and  those  killed  upon  the  field.  Whilst 
they  leave  friends  and  relatives  to  mourn  their  loss,  they  have 
won  a  nation's  gratitude  and  undying  laurels,  not  to  be  forgotten 
by  future  generations,  who  will  enjoy  the  blessings  of  the  best 
government  the  sun  ever  shone  upon,  preserved  by  their  valor." 

But  the  general  public  did  not  seem  to  understand 
the  importance  of  the  victory,  and  it  began  to  make  com- 


AFTER  THE  BATTLE  123 

plaints.  It  first  exulted  "because  Beauregard  was  com- 
pelled to  retreat,  and  then  grumbled  because  Grant  per- 
mitted him  to  retreat."  This  peculiar  feeling  was  the 
product  of  the  seed  sown  by  reckless  and  prejudiced 
newspaper  correspondents  and  editorial  writers,  who 
magnified  the  casualties  of  the  battle  and  depreciated 
the  gain.  On  the  heel  of  these  ill-natured  complaints 
came  a  demand  for  General  Grant's  removal.  But 
neither  Lincoln  nor  Stanton  sympathized  with  malcon- 
tents. The  public  was  slow  to  understand  the  real  situ- 
ation at  Shiloh.  Getting  its  information  from  the  news- 
papers, it  could  see  only  the  worst  side  of  the  conflict ; 
and  Halleck,  who  had  caused  General  Grant  more 
trouble  and  anxiety  than  did  the  Confederate  generals, 
did  much  to  foster  this  bitter  feeling  of  opposition.  For 
instance,  on  the  13th  of  April,  he  telegraphed  Stanton 
from  Pittsburg  Landing  (having  arrived  there  two 
days  after  the  battle)  as  follows: 

"It  is  the  unanimous  opinion  here  that  Brigadier  General 
Sherman  saved  the  fortunes  of  the  day  on  the  6th,  and  con- 
tributed largely  to  the  glorious  victory  on  the  7th.  He  was  in 
the  thickest  of  the  fight,  having  three  horses  killed  under  him, 
and  being  twice  wounded.  I  respectfully  request  that  he  be  made 
a  major  general  of  volunteers." 

It  is  true  that  General  Sherman  merited  high  praise 
for  his  services  at  Shiloh,  but  Halleck's  dispatch  did  not 
influence  the  War  Department.  On  the  23d  of  April, 
Stanton  demanded  from  Halleck  a  detailed  account  of 
the  battle,  and  a  positive  statement  as  to  whether  any 
neglect  or  misconduct  on  the  part  of  General  Grant  or 


124  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

any  other  officer  contributed  to  the  casualties  that  befell 
the  Union  forces  on  Sunday.  For  the  second  time  Hal- 
leek  had  been  caught  in  a  trap  which  he  had  unwittingly 
set  for  himself.  He  preferred  not  to  name  any  indi- 
vidual officer  who  had  been  derelict  to  his  duty,  and  he 
never  complied  with  the  request  of  the  War  Department. 

The  widespread  clamor  for  General  Grant's  removal 
was  one  of  the  most  amazing  incidents  of  the  war.  Con- 
sidering all  the  facts  connected  with  Sunday's  battle, 
the  charges  against  him,  the  libellous  epithets,  the  per- 
sonal prejudice,  and  the  malevolent  and  unsustained  as- 
sertions, had  no  parallel  in  the  history  of  modern  war- 
fare. The  condition  of  things  was  paradoxical  as  well 
as  grotesque.  While  President  Lincoln  was  signing  a 
proclamation  calling  upon  the  people  to  assemble  in 
places  of  worship  and  render  thanks  to  God  for  the  suc- 
cess (Donelson  and  Shiloh)  which  had  attended  the 
army  of  the  Union,  and  one  hundred  guns  were  being 
fired  in  Washington  in  honor  of  Grant's  victories,  the 
public  was  clamoring  for  his  retirement  from  the  army. 

Among  the  influential  public  men  who  were  wild  in 
their  unreasonable  prejudice  against  Grant  and  cried 
aloud  for  his  dismissal,  was  Colonel  Alexander  K. 
McClure  of  Philadelphia.  He  could  not  see  how  the 
President  could  sustain  himself  if  he  persisted  in  re- 
taining Grant.  So  he  went  to  Washington  to  counsel 
with  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  urge  him  in  the  name  of  the  peo- 
ple to  remove  Grant  without  delay.  I  will  let  the 


AFTER  THE  BATTLE  125 

Colonel  tell  in  his  own  way  the  result  of  his  visit  to  the 
President : 

"I  appealed  to  Lincoln  for  his  own  sake  to  remove 
Grant  at  once,  and  in  giving  my  reasons  for  it  I  simply 
voiced  the  admittedly  overwhelming  protest  from  the 
loyal  people  of  the  land  against  Grant's  continuance  in 
command.  .  .  .  When  I  had  said  everything  that 
could  be  said  from  my  standpoint,  we  lapsed  into  si- 
lence. Lincoln  remained  silent  for  what  seemed  a  very 
long  time.  He  then  gathered  himself  up  in  his  chair 
and  said  in  a  tone  of  earnestness  that  I  shall  never  for- 
get :  'I  can't  spare  this  man ;  he  fights.'  That  was  all  he 
said,  but  I  knew  that  it  was  enough,  and  that  Grant  was 
safe  in  Lincoln's  hands  against  the  countless  hosts  of 
enemies." 

Lincoln  saved  Grant,  and  Grant  and  his  armies 
saved  the  nation.  "He  fights ;"  and  by  that  sign  he  won 
at  Shiloh.  And  in  coming  years,  they  who  read  history 
aright  will  learn  that  in  General  Grant's  pathway  from 
Belmont  to  Appomattox,  a  pathway  strewn  with  mighty 
deeds,  he  did  not  fight  a  battle  in  which  he  displayed 
more  terrible  determination,  more  inexplicable  confi- 
dence, or  accomplished  more  for  the  Union  than  on  Sun- 
day at  Shiloh.  Two  days  after  the  battle  Halleck  ar- 
rived at  Pittsburg  Landing,  and  assumed  command  of 
the  troops.  It  was  his  purpose  to  strengthen  the  army 
and  move  on  Corinth,  whither  Beauregard  had  re- 
treated. Within  three  weeks  he  had  over  100,000  men 
with  which  to  begin  his  grand  march.  In  reorganizing 


126  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

and  rearranging  the  army  General  Grant  was  substan- 
tially left  out  of  consideration.  To  use  his  own  words : 
"I  was  little  more  than  an  observer."  And  Sherman 
says:  "For  more  than  a  month  Grant  thus  remained 
without  any  apparent  authority,  frequently  visiting  me 
and  others,  and  rarely  complaining ;  but  I  could  see  that 
he  felt  deeply  the  indignity,  if  not  the  insult,  heaped 
upon  him." 

This  magnificent  army  began  its  march  toward  Cor- 
inth on  the  30th  of  April,  under  the  command  of  a 
general  "who  could  not  ride  a  horse  faster  than  a  walk." 
His  advance  on  Corinth  will  be  a  curiosity  of  history 
for  all  time  to  come.  So  careful  was  he  not  to  provoke 
the  enemy  to  wrath  lest  there  might  be  trouble,  "that 
all  commanders,"  says  General  Grant,  "were  cautioned 
against  bringing  on  an  engagement,  and  informed  in  so 
many  words  that  it  would  be  better  to  retreat  than  to 
fight." 

The  time  made  by  Halleck  in  marching  his  splendid 
army  with  practically  no  enemy  to  impede  his  progress, 
is  made  strangely  ridiculous  by  contrast.  When  John- 
ston and  Beauregard  moved  the  Confederate  army  from 
Corinth  to  the  field  of  Shiloh,  they  consumed  two  days. 
But  Halleck,  passing  over  the  same  roads,  making  the 
same  distance,  wasted  thirty  days.  And  when  Corinth 
was  finally  reached,  this  grand  army,  with  surprise 
mingled  with  humiliation,  gazed  upon  empty  fortifica- 
tions. The  Confederates  had  folded  their  tents  and 
stolen  away.  In  a  few  days  this  grand  collection  of 


AFTER   THE   BATTLE  127 

troops,  having  accomplished  nothing  in  going  to  Cor- 
inth, was  distributed  among  various  commanders  and 
marched  away — but  General  Grant  remained. 

His  position  at  Corinth  was  but  nominal.  He  keenly 
felt  the  wrong  done  him  by  Halleck,  and  for  the  fourth 
time  in  his  life,  and  the  last,  his  will-power  failed  him. 
The  "Iron  Duke"  of  the  Civil  War  became  heart-sick, 
his  endurance  was  worn  out,  he  longed  for  retirement 
and  peace  of  mind.  It  was  at  this  juncture  that  General 
Sherman's  visit  to  General  Grant  no  doubt  saved  him  to 
the  nation.  An  account  of  this  visit  is  given  in  Sher- 
man's own  words : 

"A  short  time  before  leaving  Corinth  I  rode  to  Hal- 
leck's  headquarters  ....  when  he  mentioned  to 
me  casually  that  Grant  was  going  away  next  morning. 
I  inquired  the  cause,  and  he  said  he  did  not  know,  but 
that  Grant  had  applied  for  a  thirty  days'  leave,  which 
had  been  given  him.  Of  course  we  all  knew  that  he  was 
chafing  under  the  slights  of  his  anomalous  position,  and 
I  determined  to  see  him  on  my  way  back.  .  .  I 
found  him  seated  on  a  camp-stool,  employed  in  assort- 
ing letters.  ...  I  inquired  if  it  were  true  that  he 
was  going  away.  He  said,  'yes.'  I  then  inquired  the 
reason,  and  he  said:  'Sherman,  you  know  I  am  in  the 
way  here.  I  have  stood  it  as  long  as  I  can,  and  can  en- 
dure it  no  longer.'  I  inquired  where  he  was  going,  and 
he  said,  'St.  Louis.'  I  then  asked  if  he  had  any  business 
there,  and  he  said,  'Not  a  bit.'  I  then  begged  him  to 
stay,  illustrating  his  case  by  my  own. 


128  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

"Before  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  I  had  been  cast  down  by 
a  mere  newspaper  assertion  of  'crazy' ;  but  that  single 
battle  had  given  me  new  life,  and  now  I  was  in  high 
feather;  and  I  argued  with  him  that  if  he  went  away 
events  would  go  right  along,  and  he  would  be  left  out; 
whereas,  if  he  remained,  some  happy  accident  might  re- 
store him  to  favor  and  his  true  place.  .  .  .  He 
promised  to  wait  awhile,  and  not  to  go  without  seeing 
me  again,  or  communicating  with  me.  Very  soon  after 
this  I  was  ordered  to  Chewalla,  where  on  the  6th  of 
June  I  received  a  note  from  him,  saying  that  he  had  re- 
considered his  intention  to  leave,  and  would  remain." 

Perhaps  it  is  useless  to  speculate  as  to  General 
Grant's  future  if,  in  his  despondent  mood  his  good 
friend  Sherman  had  not  come  to  his  relief.  Events 
were  changing  rapidly,  and  according  to  all  human  cal- 
culation, absenting  himself  from  the  activities  of  the 
army  for  a  month  would  have  lost  him  his  position  as 
second  in  command  at  Corinth.  To  write  with  careful- 
ness and  sincerity,  one  hesitates  to  predict  how  much 
General  Grant's  absence  from  the  army  at  that  critical 
period  would  have  influenced  the  result  of  the  war. 
Only  the  Omniscient  God  knows  what  would  have  been 
the  fate  of  the  Union  forces  had  the  General  lost  his 
rank  in  the  army  at  that  time. 


XX. 

RESUMING  COMMAND  AND  WINNING  BATTLES. 

HEN  General  Grant  concluded  to  remain 
with  the  army  his  headquarters  were  trans- 
ferred to  Memphis  at  his  own  request;  but 
he  remained  there  only  a  short  time,  for  on 
the  10th  of  July  Governor  William  Sprague  of  Rhode 
Island  was  sent  to  Corinth  on  a  confidential  mission  in 
behalf  of  the  authorities  at  Washington.  On  his  arrival 
he  sought  the  headquarters  of  Halleck,  and  after  a  pri- 
vate conference  lasting  several  hours,  he  departed.  The 
Governor's  business  at  Corinth  was  to  offer  Halleck,  in 
the  name  of  the  President,  a  place  in  Washington,  with 
enlarged  powers  in  the  army:  and  on  the  llth  of  July 
the  following  order  was  issued  by  the  President : 

"Ordered,  that  Major-General  Halleck  take  command  of  all 
the  land  forces,  and  that  he  repair  to  this  capital  so  soon  as  he 
can  with  safety  to  the  position  and  operations  within  the  depart- 
ment under  his  special  charge." 

At  3  o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  Hal- 


130  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

leek  wired  his  compliance  with  the  order  in  these  words : 

"Your  orders  of  this  date  are  received.  General  Grant,  next 
in  command,  is  at  Memphis.  I  have  telegraphed  to  him  to  imme- 
diately repair  to  this  place. 

"I  will  start  for  Washington  the  moment  I  can  have  a  per- 
sonal interview  with  General  Grant." 

The  call  of  Halleck  to  Washington  was  a  gratifying 
close  of  General  Grant's  many  troubles  with  that  com- 
mander. He  was  himself  again.  He  could  now  clearly 
see  his  way  to  success.  But  by  the  scattering  of  the 
army  of  100,000  men  who  had  made  the  fruitless  march 
to  Corinth,  Grant  was  left  in  a  hostile  territory  with 
only  50,000  troops.  His  front  line  extended  from  Mem- 
phis to  Corinth,  a  distance  of  one  hundred  miles.  This 
condition  of  affairs  forced  upon  him  a  delicate  respon- 
sibility. But  at  this  time,  as  in  almost  all  other  periods 
of  his  career  as  a  commander,  he  accomplished  more 
than  was  expected  of  him.  His  nature  demanded  free- 
dom to  act,  and  action  was  proof  of  his  ability  to  com- 
mand and  succeed.  Instinctively  he  believed  in  the 
principle  that  a  bold  onset  was  half  the  battle. 

"The  Confederate  Generals  Price  and  Van  Dorn 
were  in  front  of  him — southward — the  former  on  the 
left  and  the  latter  on  the  right.  In  the  middle  of  Sep- 
tember they  made  a  movement  to  effect  a  junction  and 
attack  and  disperse  Grant's  forces,  or  together  passing 
his  flank  to  reinforce  Bragg  in  his  campaign  in  Ken- 
tucky against  Buell."  When  Grant  heard  of  the  bold 
purpose  of  Price  and  Van  Dorn,  he  immediately  set  his 
army  in  motion.  He  ordered  Generals  W.  S.  Rosecraiis 


RESUMING  COMMAND  AND  WINNING  BATTLES     131 

and  E.  O.  C.  Ord,  together  having  17,000  men,  to  at- 
tack luka,  twenty-two  miles  southeast  of  Corinth.  For 
the  purpose  of  directing  the  movement  of  the  army  in 
this  engagement,  General  Grant  made  Burnsville,  seven 
miles  north  of  luka,  his  headquarters.  The  battle  began 
late  in  the  afternoon  of  September  19th,  and  on  the  fol- 
lowing day  the  Confederates  were  forced  to  retreat. 

Still  determined  to  whip  General  Grant,  Price  and 
Van  Dorn  devised  a  plan  to  attack  and  capture  Corinth. 
Grant  gave  the  command  at  Corinth  to  Rosecrans,  while 
his  own  headquarters  were  established  at  Jackson, 
Tenn.,  forty  miles  northward,  where  he  could  better 
direct  the  forces  under  him.  Rosecrans  had  23,000 
men,  while  Price,  Van  Dorn,  and  Lowell  had  38,000. 
The  Confederates  opened  the  battle  on  the  3d  of  Octo- 
ber, and  the  resoluteness  of  the  attack  with  such  a  su- 
perior force  at  first  seemed  likely  to  be  successful.  The 
battle  was  waged  with  a  fierceness  akin  to  Shiloh.  But 
it  was  the  good  fortune  of  the  Union  troops  "that  on  the 
next  day  they  fought  behind  the  breast  works  Grant  had 
constructed  after  Halleck  left  the  army."  Determined 
as  was  the  assault,  it  was  repulsed  with  serious  loss  to 
the  Confederates.  Next  to  Shiloh  it  was  the  hardest 
fought  battle  in  the  West  up  to  that  time.  The  Union 
victory  was  so  complete  that  it  changed  the  whole  as- 
pect of  affairs  in  Tennessee.  It  also  prevented  Price 
and  Van  Dorn  from  carrying  out  their  cherished  plan 
to  reinforce  Bragg.  When  the  account  of  the  success  at 
Corinth  reached  Washington,  it  drew  from  President 
Lincoln  a  message  of  sincere  congratulation. 


XXI. 
GRANT  AND  THE  CONTRABANDS 

the  25th  of  October,  1862,  General  Grant 
was  given  full  command  of  the  Department 
of  the  Tennessee ;  and  immediately  he  made 
a  campaign  through  central  Mississippi,  at 
which  time  he  began  to  plan  for  the  capture  of  Vicks- 
burg.  But  before  proceeding  further  with  General 
Grant's  army  operations  in  the  autumn  and  early  win- 
ter of  1862,  I  wish  to  introduce  an  exceedingly  inter- 
esting and  important  piece  of  history,  which  can  be 
classed  among  many  other  incidents,  showing  that  the 
mystery  of  his  character  was  not  wholly  confined  to 
organizing  campaigns  and  winning  battles. 

General  John  Eaton,  who  died  in  1905,  was  ap- 
pointed chaplain  of  the  Twenty-seventh  Ohio  volunteers, 
and  after  serving  as  colonel  of  the  Sixty-third  United 
States  Colored  Infantry,  was  made  brigadier  general 
by  brevet.  After  the  war  he  held  the  office  of  Commis- 


GRANT  AND  THE  CONTRABANDS         133 

sioner  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education  for 
sixteen  years.  While  serving  as  chaplain  of  his  regi- 
ment, he  became  intimately  acquainted  with  General 
Grant  in  the  autumn  of  1862.  "Contrabands,"  as  the 
negroes  who  reached  the  Union  lines  were  then  called, 
were  numerous,  and  needed  the  care  and  protection  of 
the  government.  General  Grant  understood  this  thor- 
oughly. His  thoughtfulness  was  far-reaching,  and  with- 
out consulting  Chaplain  Eaton  or  anyone  else,  he  issued 
special  order  ISTo.  15,  in  November,  1862 : 

"Chaplain  Eaton  of  the  Twenty-seventh  Ohio  Volunteers  is 
hereby  appointed  to  take  charge  of  the  contrabands  that  come 
into  camp,  organizing  them  into  suitable  companies  for  working, 
seeing  that  they  are  properly  cared  for,  and  setting  them  to  work, 
picking,  ginning,  and  baling  all  cotton  now  out  and  ungathered 
in  the  fields." 

General  Eaton  wrote  many  interesting  pages  on 
"Lincoln,  Grant,  and  the  Negro,"  in  which  he  tells  with 
peculiar  interest  of  his  surprise  when  he  first  met  Gen- 
eral Grant.  From  the  wild  stories  which  were  circu- 
lated about  him  shortly  after  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  he 
expected  to  find  an  intemperate,  incompetent,  brutal, 
and  vulgar  soldier;  "but  to  my  surprise,"  he  says,  "I 
found  a  simple,  unassuming  man,  without  any  ostenta- 
tion, living  as  plainly  as  a  private  soldier.  My  eyes 
were  on  the  alert  for  signs  of  dissipation  in  his  face, 
but  there  were  no  signs  of  that  sort  there.  Everything 
about  him  betokened  sobriety,  simplicity,  and  modera- 
tion, and  the  atmosphere  surrounding  him  showed  dig- 


134  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

nity  and  respect  which  his  associate  generals  manifested 
for  him." 

When  the  special  order  was  issued,  General  Eaton, 
then  being  only  thirty  years  old  and  without  business 
experience,  asked  to  be  relieved  from  the  large  responsi- 
bility thus  imposed  upon  him.  But  General  Grant  had 
taken  an  accurate  measurement  of  the  young  chaplain's 
qualification,  and  said:  "You  are  the  man  who  has  all 
these  darkies  on  his  shoulders."  He  then  went  on  to  ex- 
plain his  plan  for  the  solution  of  the  negro  problem, 
which  he  decided  to  take,  as  general  of  the  army, 
without  waiting  for  instructions  from  Washington. 

General  Eaton  says  the  interview  with  Grant  pro- 
foundly impressed  him  with  the  "General's  ability,  sin- 
cerity, and  far-sighted  statesmanship  as  he  disclosed  his 
plans  for  meeting  the  emergency,"  so  far  as  the  contra- 
bands were  concerned.  He  was  the  first  general  to  take 
the  initiative  in  utilizing  in  a  practical  and  humane 
way,  the  labor  of  contrabands.  Out  of  special  order  No. 
15,  originated  the  "Freedmen's  Bureau." 

Speaking  of  the  conversations  with  Grant  regarding 
his  habits  of  life,  General  Eaton  says :  "He  told  me  so 
freely  of  his  old  life  that  these  conversations  were  as  un- 
expected to  me  as  they  were  delightful.  I  was  particu- 
larly impressed  with  the  candor  with  which  he  referred 
to  the  accusation  of  intemperance  made  against  him. 
It  was  plain  that  his  army  life  in  Washington  Territory 
and  Oregon  had  been  full  of  temptations,  and  it  is  more 
than  probable  that  he  followed  the  example  of  other 


GRANT  AND  THE  CONTRABANDS        135 

officers  while  there.  To  escape  from  that  temptation 
was  certainly  one  of  his  motives  for  leaving  the  army, 
and  I  feel  impelled  to  state  as  plainly  as  I  can  that 
Grant's  temperance  was  unimpeachable  after  he  had 
reentered  the  service  and  started  upon  his  great  career." 
It  always  remained  a  mystery  to  General  Eaton  why 
General  Grant  selected  him  to  bear  the  enormous  re- 
sponsibility of  caring  for  the  negroes  who  were  escaping 
from  slavery.  The  position  of  general  superintendent 
of  contrabands  carried  with  it  a  vast  amount  of  labor, 
anxiety,  and  accountability.  And  General  Grant,  with 
his  usual  reticence,  never  explained  why  the  young 
Chaplain  was  appointed  to  do  this  important  work.  Al- 
though the  General  and  the  Chaplain  had  never  met  pre- 
vious to  this  incident,  the  former  seemed  to  know  as  if 
by  intuition,  the  spirit  and  capacity  of  the  man  in  whom 
he  was  placing  so  great  a  trust.  The  selection  was  made 
with  remarkable  wisdom,  for  thereby  General  Eaton 
was  instrumental  in  saving  thousands  of  human  beings 
from  starvation,  and  leading  them  into  conditions  that 
were  new  and  unfamiliar. 


XXII. 
THE  GREATEST  SIEGE  IN  HISTORY. 

IENERAL  GRANT'S  campaign  through 

Mississippi  was  a  preliminary  study  of  how 
to  capture  Vicksburg.  His  chief  disap- 
pointment during  this  campaign  was  the 
surrender  of  Holly  Springs  to  Van  Dora  on  the  20th 
of  December,  1862,  by  Colonel  Murphy  of  the  Eighth 
Wisconsin.  It  was  General  Grant's  purpose  to  make 
that  place  a  base  of  supplies  in  moving  against  Vicks- 
burg from  the  east,  and  the  unfortunate  surrender  com- 
pelled a  radical  change  of  plans. 

On  the  29th  of  December,  General  Sherman,  with 
30,000  men,  made  a  test  of  the  strength  of  the  enemy's 
works  at  Vicksburg,  by  an  attack  at  Chickasaw  Bluffs, 
near  the  city.  He  was  repulsed  with  considerable  loss ; 
and  those  in  the  North  who  knew  nothing  of  war  or  of 
the  difficulties  of  the  situation,  raised  the  cry  of  "Re- 
pulse, failure,  and  bungling."  As  is  usually  the  case, 
the  non-combatants  were  doing  all  the  grumbling. 


THE  GREATEST  SIEGE  7.V  HISTORY  137 

General  Grant  was  not  slow  in  comprehending  that 
Vicksburg  was  the  best  fortified  city,  both  by  nature 
and  military  art,  in  all  the  land.  He  was  convinced  that 
as  far  as  Vicksburg  was  concerned,  fighting  fire  with 
fire  would  not  avail  in  the  effort  to  capture  what  Jeffer- 
son Davis  was  proud  to  call  the  "Gibraltar  of  America." 
But  the  fact  that  Grant  had  to  fight  a  senseless  clamor 
in  the  North  as  well  as  a  determined  foe  in  the  South, 
and  obstacles  of  nature,  did  not  disturb  him.  But  he 
fully  realized  the  gravity  of  the  situation.  However,  he 
did  not  shrink  from  the  tremendous  responsibility  which 
the  campaign  placed  upon  him.  He  had  a  larger  hope 
and  a  keener  military  insight  than  any  other  general  in 
the  field  or  at  Washington.  The  authorities  at  the 
national  capital  were  becoming  restless  with  doubt  and 
anxiety;  but  this  strange  commander,  almost  provok- 
ingly  reticent  at  times,  pursued  the  even  tenor  of  his 
peculiar  way.  His  mysterious  genius  gave  him  confi- 
dence ;  and  while  many  generals  and  millions  of  people 
were  wondering  what  he  would  do  next,  Sherman  says 
he  went  on  quietly  to  work  out  his  own  designs.  He  was 
evolving  in  his  mind  a  movement  which,  to  the  military 
critics,  was  more  hazardous  and  incomprehensible  than 
could  be  found  in  the  history  of  wars. 

How  to  take  Vicksburg  was  indeed  the  serious  prob- 
lem of  the  hour.  The  Union  forces  in  the  West  could 
not  be  entirely  successful  so  long  as  the  great  hills  at 
Vicksburg,  with  their  hundreds  of  frowning  cannon, 
obstructed  the  Mississippi  river.  General  Grant  was 


138  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

convinced  that  those  hills,  which  stood  like  a  defying, 
impregnable  fortress,  could  not  be  taken  from  the  north, 
and  only  from  the  east  by  moving  an  army  of  30,000  or 
40,000  men  below  Grand  Gulf  where  he  could  secure 
a  foothold  on  the  east  side  of  the  river.  After  accom- 
plishing this,  his  purpose  was  to  make  a  rapid  movement 
northeasterly,  attack  the  enemy  wherever  found,  drive 
him  into  Vicksburg,  and  "bottle  him  up."  To  his  mind 
this  could  be  done  only  by  marching  his  troops  on  the 
Louisiana  side  of  the  river,  from  Milliken's  Bend,  sev- 
enteen miles  above  Vicksburg,  to  New  Carthage,  about 
twenty  miles  below  the  city. 

Another  plan,  which,  however,  did  not  originate 
with  General  Grant,  was  to  dig  a  canal  across  the  narrow 
neck  of  land  opposite  Vicksburg,  to  intersect  with  the 
Mississippi  below,  a  distance  of  one  mile.  It  was 
thought  that  transports  entering  from  the  north,  bear- 
ing troops  and  supplies,  could  pass  through  the  canal 
with  safety.  An  attempt  was  made  to  dig  the  canal  in 
1862,  by  General  Thomas  Williams,  but  high  water 
caused  an  abandonment  of  the  enterprise  on  the  27th  of 
March,  1863. 

The  winter  of  1863  was  a  trying  time  for  General 
Grant.  It  was  a  winter  of  floods  in  the  South,  and  a 
winter  of  discontent  among  the  people  of  the  North.  He 
could  not  move  his  army,  and  many  began  the  old  cry 
after  Donelson,  "idle,  incompetent,  and  unfit  to  com- 
mand in  an  emergency,"  and  again  arose  a  clamor  for 


THE  GREATEST  SIEGE  IN  HISTORY  139 

his  removal.  It  was  a  season  of  false  alarm  and  sensa- 
tional rumors. 

But  there  were  two  men  in  the  land  from  whence 
came  words  of  cheer.  One  was  listening  quietly  in  a 
store  in  Cincinnati,  to  a  great  deal  of  rambling  and 
grumbling  talk  about  the  way  General  Grant  was  trying 
to  take  Vicksburg.  When  all  others  present  had  given 
vent  to  their  feelings,  this  man  said  in  a  moderate  tone : 
"I  think  he'll  take  it.  Yes,  I  know  he'll  take  it.  'Lis' 
always  did  what  he  set  out  to  do.  'Lis'  is  my  boy,  and 
he  won't  fail." 

The  other  man  who  believed  in  General  Grant  was  in 
the  White  House.  He  was  too  good  to  be  unkind,  and 
too  wise  and  prudent  to  err.  While  men  of  large  politi- 
cal influence  were  urging  General  Grant's  removal  for 
the  good  of  the  country,  the  philosopher  at  the  White 
House  said :  "I  rather  like  the  man ;  I  think  we'll  try 
him  a  little  longer."  By  these  thirteen  words  the  fate 
of  Vicksburg  was  sealed. 

During  this  time  of  public  discontent  General  Grant 
was  quietly  thinking  out  a  scheme  whereby  gunboats, 
transports,  and  barges  laden  with  supplies  could  run 
fourteen  miles  of  batteries  past  Vicksburg  and  Grand 
Gulf.  He  had  a  mental  map,  or  picture,  of  how  the  city 
could  be  taken ;  but  he  did  not  call  to  his  assistance  any 
of  his  generals  nor  even  the  members  of  his  staff.  Noth- 
ing could  be  gained  by  a  council  of  war.  The  concep- 
tion was  too  bold  for  their  approval.  Even  Sherman, 
who  was  closer  to  General  Grant  in  thought  and  friend- 


140  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

ship  than  any  other  general,  could  not  indorse  the  de- 
termination of  his  chief  to  defy  the  bristling  batteries 
on  the  Vicksburg  hills.  It  was  not  a  "protest"  against 
it  as  some  authorities  declare,  but  simply  an  opinion, 
that  the  saner  plan  to  take  the  city  was  by  a  movement 
from  the  north.  The  cooperation  of  the  navy  would 
seem  to  be  necessary,  whatever  plan  might  be  adopted 
for  the  reduction  of  the  Vicksburg  forts,  and  therefore 
General  Grant  communicated  to  Admiral  Porter  his 
plan  of  campaign.  The  Admiral,  whose  fleet  was  in 
hiding  not  far  from  Young's  Point  above  Vicksburg, 
was  conscious  of  the  fact  that  the  part  to  be  assigned  to 
him  would  be  one  of  the  most  hazardous  naval  manoeu- 
vres of  the  war,  or  of  any  war  in  history ;  but  having  the 
fullest  confidence  in  General  Grant's  judgment,  he  gave 
the  plan  his  hearty  indorsement. 

To  obtain  a  clear  understanding  of  the  great  danger 
in  attempting  to  run  the  batteries  it  must  be  explained 
that  Vicksburg  occupies  the  summit  and  slopes  of  a  lofty 
range  of  hills  about  two  hundred  feet  above  the  river. 
A  short  distance  below  Young's  Point  the  Mississippi 
turns  above  the  city  and  runs  nearly  four  miles  north- 
easterly, and  then,  in  passing  the  city,  takes  a  south- 
westerly course  for  nearly  the  same  distance.  At  this 
sharp  bend  in  the  river  where  it  begins  its  southward 
course,  the  great  bluffs  jut  insolently  out  into  the  chan- 
nel of  the  Mississippi.  To  General  Grant,  nothing 
seemed  impossible;  and  "having  cast  the  eye  of  desire 
upon  this  special  spot,  he  began  to  advance  upon  it 


VICKKKURG 


SHOWING   THE    COURSE  THE   VESSELS   TOOK 
IN   KFNNING  THE  BLOCKADE. 


THE  GREATEST  SIEGE  IN  HISTORY  141 

in  a  silent,  pertinacious  way,  which  no  men,  and  no 
intrenchments  could  permanently  withstand." 

When  General  Grant  had  determined  to  proceed 
against  Vicksburg  in  the  manner  already  outlined,  he 
set  on  foot  some  stirring  movements  which  were  be- 
wildering to  his  associates.  He  was  trying  a  new  sys- 
.tem  of  fighting  to  conquer.  He  scratched  the  word 
"rest"  out  of  his  vocabulary,  and  seemed  determined  to 
move  right  on  as  if  impelled  by  some  power  which  he 
could  not  resist.  He  was  bidding  good-bye  to  the  North. 
His  base  of  supplies  was  to  be  abandoned.  He  was  tak- 
ing his  troops,  lightly  equipped,  into  the  enemy's 
country.  The  foe  with  which  he  could  not  escape  bat- 
tle was  greater  in  number  than  his  own  army.  It 
seemed  to  everybody  who  was  looking  on  that  he  could 
not  escape  disaster.  But  the  orders  to  move  were  is- 
sued at  once,  and  the  greatest  siege  in  history  began  in 
earnest. 

General  McClernand,  commanding  the  Thirteenth 
corps,  led  the  advance  of  the  army  of  about  32,000,  and 
moved  from  Milliken's  Bend  on  the  9th  of  March,  1863, 
and  on  the  6th  of  April  he  reached  New  Carthage. 
Parts  of  the  corps  of  Sherman  and  McPherson — the 
Fifteenth  and  Seventeenth — were  to  follow  McClernand 
in  the  order  which  had  been  determined  by  General 
Grant. 

The  General's  orders  for  the  movement  of  the  troops 
over  the  untried  and  impeditive  route  showed  how  care- 
fully he  had  thought  out  every  detail  of  the  march.  He 


142  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

noted  minutely  how  the  men  should  conduct  themselves 
while  marching  and  living  off  the  country;  and  ever}' 
necessary  provision  was  made  for  the  care  of  those  who, 
in  the  strain  of  march,  might  fall  by  the  wayside. 

The  boldest  and  most  perilous  and  uncertain  fea- 
ture of  this  campaign  was  passing  the  murderous 
batteries  which  defended  Vicksburg.  The  success  of 
this  movement  depended  wholly  upon  whether  General 
Grant  could  get  his  fleet  below  the  city.  Without  ves- 
sels on  which  his  army  could  cross  from  the  west  to  the 
east  side  of  the  river,  the  campaign  would  be  an  utter 
failure.  The  bravery  of  men  and  the  strength  of  gun- 
boats and  transports  were  to  be  put  to  a  supreme  test. 
After  most  of  the  army  had  reached  a  point  below 
Vicksburg  by  the  overland  route,  on  the  Louisiana  side, 
General  Grant's  plan  for  the  movement  of  the  fleet 
assumed  definite  shape;  and  on  Wednesday,  April  15th, 
he  asked  Admiral  Porter :  "Can  I  depend  on  you  for  a 
sufficient  naval  force  to  run  the  blockade?"  "I  will 
be  ready  to-morrow  night,"  was  the  prompt  answer. 
Each  gunboat  had  taken  for  additional  protection, 
baled  cotton,  railway  iron,  heavy  timber,  and  huge 
chains. 

So  dangerous  was  the  attempt  to  run  the  batteries 
with  transports  that  General  Grant  resolved  not  to 
order  any  man  to  take  part  in  the  movement.  The 
officers  and  crews  of  the  gunboats  belonging  to  the  regn- 
lar  navy  had  no  option  in  the  matter,  but  it  was  other- 
wise with  those  engaged  in  the  transport  service. 


THE  GREATEST  SIEGE  IN  HISTORY  143 

Therefore  volunteers  from  the  army  were  called  for, 
and  a  surprising  number  of  men  of  nerve  and  patriotic 
ardor  begged  the  privilege  of  risking  their  lives  in  the 
expedition.  The  General  says  that  captains,  pilots, 
mates,  engineers,  and  deckhands  presented  themselves 
to  take  five  times  the  number  of  vessels  which  were 
needed  for  the  perilous  voyage.  One  young  man  in 
the  "Lead  Mining  regiment,"  raised  in  Representative 
Washburne's  district,  declined  one  hundred  dollars  in 
cash  for  his  chance  of  risking  his  life  in  passing  the 
belching  guns  at  Vicksburg  and  Grand  Gulf. 

The  first  fleet  selected  to  pass  the  batteries  was 
composed  of  eight  gunboats — Porter's  flagship  Benton 
taking  the  lead — and  three  transports  carrying  soldiers 
and  provisions,  and  each  towing  a  barge  loaded  with 
coal  for  the  use  of  the  gunboats.  General  Grant  was 
on  a  transport,  not  connected  with  the  blockade  runners, 
that  he  might  see  how  the  fleet  behaved,  his  boat  being 
as  far  down  the  river  as  prudence  would  permit. 

About  ten  o'clock  on  Thursday  night,  April  16th, 
Porter  started  down  the  river  with  his  fleet,  the  utmost 
quiet  prevailing,  and  his  boats  simply  drifting  with  the 
current.  There  was  a  grand  ball  in  Vicksburg  that 
night,  and  the  Admiral  supposed  the  sound  of  revelry 
would  favor  him  in  getting  his  transports  past  the  bat- 
teries. "As  I  looked  back,"  says  Porter,  "at  the  long 
line  I  could  compare  them  only  to  so  many  phantom 
vessels.  Not  a  light  was  to  be  seen  nor  a  sound  heard 
throughout  the  fleet."  Porter  thought  he  was  going  to 


144  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

slip  by  unnoticed.  But  just  as  he  approached  the  river 
bend  where  the  frowning  heights  were  covered  with 
heavy  batteries,  a  bright  light  along  the  levee  illumi- 
nated everything. 

Porter's  captain  thought  the  town  was  on  fire.  aOn 
the  opposite  side  of  the  river  was  a  large  railway  station 
with  outbuildings,  and  as  soon  as  the  first  fire  broke 
out  these  also  burst  into  flames.  The  upper  fort  opened 
its  heavy  guns  upon  the  Benton,  the  shot  rattling  against 
her  sides  like  hail,  but  she  had  four  inches  of  iron 
plated  over  forty  inches  of  oak,  so  that  hardly  any  im- 
pression could  be  made  upon  her  hull." 

"It  was  one  of  the  grandest  scenes  ever  witnessed 
in  war.  It  was  the  most  daring  of  naval  adventures, 
for  upon  its  success  depended,  in  a  very  large  measure, 
the  fate  and  reputation  of  General  Grant,  and  of  the 
army  he  commanded,  and  certainly  the  fate  of  Vicks- 
burg.  Admiral  Porter  says  that  from  every  fort  and 
hill-top  vomited  forth  shot  and  shell.  The  scene  might 
have  answered  for  a  picture  of  the  infernal  regions.  I 
stood  on  deck  admiring  it,  while  the  captain  fought  his 
vessel,  and  the  pilot  steered  her  through  fire  and  smoke 
as  coolly  as  if  he  were  performing  an  everyday  duty." 

This  unparalleled  adventure  of  the  fleet,  and  the 
splendor  of  the  scene,  make  it  worth  while  to  quote  a 
few  lines  from  an  eye-witness  who  was  too  modest  to 
give  his  name: 

"Lights  twinkled  busily  from  the  Vicksburg  hill- 
sides until  ten  o'clock,  when  they  disappeared.  Then 


THE  GREATEST  SIEGE  IN  HISTORY  145 

a  shapeless  mass  of  what  looked  like  a  great  fragment 
of  darkness  was  discerned  floating  noiselessly  down  the 
river.  It  was  the  Benton.  It  was  followed  by  an- 
other bank  of  darkness,  then  another,  and  thus  they 
continued  as  if  huge  shadows  detached  themselves  from 
the  blackness  above,  floated  across  the  vision,  and  dis- 
appeared in  the  darkness  below.  Ten  of  these  noise- 
less shapes  revealed  themselves  and  disappeared. 

"Three-quarters  of  an  hour  passed.  People  saw 
nothing  save  a  long,  low  bank  of  darkness  which,  like 
a  black  fog,  walled  the  view  below,  and  joined  the  sky 
and  river  in  the  direction  of  Vicksburg.  And  all 
watched  this  gathering  of  blackness,  for  in  it  were  thun- 
ders and  lightnings  and  volcanoes  which  at  any  instant 
might  light  up  the  night  with  fierce  eruptions.  .  . 
At  just  quarter  before  eleven  two  bright,  sharp  lines  of 
flame  floated  through  the  darkness  at  the  extreme  right 
of  the  Vicksburg  batteries ;  and  in  an  instant  the  whole 
length  of  the  bluffs  was  ablaze  with  fire.  The  fleet  had 
rounded  the  Point,  and  now  lay  squarely  before  the  city, 
and  at  once  responded  by  opening  their  ports  and  pour- 
ing their  full  broadside  of  twenty-five  heavy  guns  charged 
with  grape  and  shrapnel  directly  against  the  city. 

"A  great  cloud  of  smoke  rolled  heavily  over  the  gun- 
boats, and  in  this  the  transports  entered  and  made  their 
'fast  time'  down  the  river.  But  the  cotton  bales  on 
the  Henry  Clay  took  fire  from  a  Confederate  shell,  and 
soon  became  a  blazing  mass  as  it  floated  down  the 
stream  until  it  disappeared  below  Warrenton." 


140  GRAXT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

The  Vicksburg  batteries  were  passed  in  one  hour 
and  a  half,  and  the  surprising  feat  was  accomplished 
without  the  loss  of  a  single  life. 

When  Porter  had  passed  the  batteries  he  took  his 
fleet  to  a  point  near  New  Carthage,  a  run  of  only  a  few 
miles.  But  with  only  two  transports  and  two  barges 
below  Vicksburg,  General  Grant  could  not  transfer  his 
army  expeditiously  from  the  west  to  the  east  side  of  the 
river,  and  therefore  he  decided  to  start  a  second  fleet 
past  the  batteries,  to  consist  of  six  steamers  such  as 
were  common  on  the  Mississippi,  and  twelve  barges. 
The  officers  and  crews  were  chosen  almost  wholly  from 
the  regiments  then  in  camp  at  Milliken's  Bend.  Again, 
General  Grant  purposed  not  to  ask  anyone  to  accompany 
the  fleet  on  account  of  the  hazardousness  of  the  under- 
taking. But  the  loyalty  and  courage  of  the  volunteers 
were  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  many  times  more  offi- 
cers and  men  tendered  their  services  than  the  steamers 
could  accommodate. 

The  time  fixed  for  the  moving  of  the  second  fleet 
was  on  Wednesday  night,  April  22nd.  A  painful  ex- 
pectation weighed  on  many  hearts.  There  were  no 
ironclad  boats  like  Porter's  Benion  and  Lafayette  to 
guard  the  frail  crafts  or  to  give  the  volunteers  who 
crowded  the  decks  of  the  steamers  a  fair  chance  to  save 
their  lives.  Generals  Grant  and  Logan,  with  other 
officers  and  war  correspondents,  were  sufficiently  near 
on  boats  to  observe  the  action  of  the  fleet. 


THE  GREATEST  SIEGE  IV  HISTORY  147 

The  steamers  were  to  run  ten  or  fifteen  minutes 
apart.  It  was  a  little  after  ten  o'clock  when  they  took 
their  positions  in  the  line.  Their  engines  were  motion- 
less, and  with  an  impressive  solemnity  the  voyage  began 
after  the  moon  had  set  and  darkness  had  covered  the 
waters  of  the  Mississippi.  It  was  about  twelve  o'clock 
when  the  first  steamer  in  the  fleet  was  discovered  by  the 
upper  batteries.  Then  the  dead  silence  of  the  night 
was  broken  by  the  roar  of  the  heaviest  guns  of  the 
fortifications.  The  river  was  soon  illuminated  by  the 
burning  of  old  buildings.  "The  batteries  played  heav- 
ily upon  the  transports,  sending  iron  messengers  after 
them  when  they  had  gotten  fully  two  miles  below  the 
guns. 

"Every  two  or  three  minutes  would  come  a  lull; 
then  the  roar  would  deepen  and  the  batteries  would 
crash  through  the  night  until  the  atmosphere  and  the 
land  and  the  water  shook.  But  slowly  and  quietly  the 
boats  moved  down  the  river,  and  at  half-past  two  o'clock 
in  the  morning  the  last  of  the  fleet  passed  beyond  the 
range  of  the  batteries,  and  the  night  again  became  si- 
lent." Only  one  of  the  steamers  was  sunk,  and  seven 
of  the  barges  which  carried  rations  for  the  army  passed 
by  in  safety. 

With  about  20,000  men  below  Vicksburg,  General 
Grant  made  his  headquarters  at  Perkins'  plantation, 
some  eight  or  ten  miles  in  a  straight  course  below  New 
Carthage.  He  soon  learned  that  the  only  place  on  the 
east  side  of  the  river  at  which  he  could  safely  land  his 


148  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

army  was  at  Bruinsburg,  eight  miles  below  Grand  Gulf 
— the  latter  being  heavily  fortified.  There  were  only 
two  ways  opened  to  the  General  by  which  he  could  ac- 
complish his  purpose — either  for  Porter  to  silence  the 
Grand  Gulf  batteries,  in  day  time,  or  run  the  blockade 
with  the  gunboats  and  transports  at  night. 

On  Wednesday  morning,  April  29th,  Porter  brought 
his  eight  gunboats  into  service,  and  at  close  range  began 
to  hammer  the  enemy,  but  after  five  hours  and  a  half 
of  "as  hard  naval  fighting  as  any  that  occurred  during 
the  war,"  not  a  single  Confederate  gun  was  silenced. 
But  the  result  did  not  discourage  General  Grant.  In 
a  quiet,  confident  tone  he  said  to  Porter:  "I  will  run 
the  batteries."  And  under  the  cover  of  night  the  Grand 
Gulf  blockade  was  passed  by  the  entire  fleet,  composed 
of  eight  gunboats,  seven  transports,  and  several  barges. 
Xot  a  single  life  was  lost  in  this  perilous  undertaking, 
and  with  all  the  fleet  below  the  last  of  the  enemy's  bat- 
teries, General  Grant  was  in  a  position  to  ferry  his  army 
to  the  Mississippi  shore  and  begin  the  movement  to 
place  it  in  the  rear  of  Vicksburg. 

In  connection  with  this  portion  of  the  \7icksburg 
campaign  is  an  incident  of  special  value  as  it  strikingly 
illustrates  the  military  wisdom  of  General  Grant.  Gen- 
eral John  A.  McClernand,  commander  of  the  Thir- 
teenth Corps,  was  a  brave  officer,  but  was  numbered 
among  the  "political  generals."  He  lacked  the  instinct 
of  a  true  soldier,  and  his  ambition  was  inordinate. 
Admiral  Porter  says  that  the  General  had  so  thoroughly 


THE  GREATEST  SIEGE  IN  HISTORY  149 

ingratiated  himself  with  President  Lincoln  that  he 
made  him  believe  that  he  was  the  only  general  who 
could  compel  the  fall  of  Vicksburg.  So  successful  was 
McClernand  in  winning  the  confidence  of  the  Adminis- 
tration, that  in  the  autumn  of  1862  the  President  had 
authorized  him  to  go  to  Illinois  and  raise  troops  for  the 
special  purpose  of  capturing  Vicksburg.  Many  men 
were  enlisted  under  his  persuasive  eloquence,  and  his 
command  of  the  Vicksburg  expedition  early  in  the  win- 
ter of  1863  seemed  assured.  But  fortunately,  through 
the  patience,  sagacity,  and  generalship  of  Grant,  Mc- 
Clernand never  obtained  a  higher  position  in  the  army 
than  commander  of  the  Thirteenth  Corps. 

In  the  march  of  the  army  from  Milliken's  Bend  to 
New  Carthage  General  Grant  gave  McClernand  the 
command  of  the  right  wing.  As  he  was  next  in  rank 
to  himself  he  was  entitled  to  this  honor,  all  other  things 
being  equal ;  but  the  officers  of  the  army  and  navy  dis- 
trusted McClernand.  General  Grant,  however,  was 
always  kind  and  considerate,  and  in  assigning  officers 
to  various  commands  in  the  march  below  Vicksburg, 
it  was  his  purpose  not  to  give  McClernand  the  slightest 
reason  to  complain  of  ill-treatment  by  the  commanding 
general.  But  notwithstanding  General  Grant's  great 
strategic  movements  thus  far  in  the  Vicksburg  cam- 
paign, the  Administration  seemed  to  be  in  a  state  of 
doubt  as  to  his  fitness  to  command;  and  perhaps 
McClernand  was  responsible  for  this  peculiar  condition 
of  mind  at  Washington. 


150  GRANT,  THE  MA\  OF  MYSTERY 

When  Admiral  Porter  was  fighting  the  battle  at 
Grand  Gulf,  three  Commissioners  were  on  board  a  tug 
with  General  Grant,  witnessing  the  action.  They  were 
Elihu  B.  Washbume,  member  of  Congress  from  the 
Galena  (111.)  district;  Richard  Yates,  Governor  of  Illi- 
nois; and  Lorenzo  Thomas,  Adjutant  General  of  the 
United  States  Army.  The  Commissioners  had  per- 
sonally met  McClernand  at  his  headquarters,  and  were 
honored  "with  a  grand  review  and  a  good  luncheon  with 
champagne."  But  there  was  no  spirit  of  blandishment 
or  sycophancy  in  General  Grant,  and  he  could  furnish 
the  Commissioners  with  no  such  entertainment.  The 
best  he  could  do  was  to  give  them  a  place  on  his  tug- 
boat, from  which  they  could  witness  the  exhibition  of 
naval  firing,  which,  for  desperation,  had  been  rarely 
paralleled  in  any  war. 

The  authority  conferred  on  the  Commissioners  by 
President  Lincoln  was  to  inquire  carefully  into  the 
affairs  of  the  army  commanded  by  General  Grant,  and 
if  after  such  an  inquisition  they  concluded  that  a 
change  ought  to  be  made,  they  might  relieve  the  com- 
manding General  and  put  McClernand  in  his  place. 
Adjutant  General  Thomas  took  Admiral  Porter  into 
his  confidence  and  told  him  that  he  brought  with  him 
from  Washington  a  document  which  gave  him  authority 
to  perform  this  service  for  the  President.  Porter  asked 
whom  he  proposed  to  put  in  General  Grant's  place. 
Thomas  answered:  "That  depends;  McClernand  is 
prominent." 


THE  GREATEST  SIEGE  IN  HISTORY  151 

The  Admiral  replied:  "Don't  let  your  plans  get 
out,  for  if  the  army  and  navy  should  find  out  what  these 
three  gentlemen  came  here  for,  they  would  be  tarred 
and  feathered,  and  neither  Grant  nor  myself  could  pre- 
vent it."  "Is  it  possible?"  exclaimed  Thomas.  "But 
nothing  has  been  done.  We  are  delighted  with  what 
we  have  seen." 

When  Adjutant  General  Thomas  returned  to  Wash- 
ington he  conferred  with  the  President  immediately, 
reported  what  they  had  seen  and  what  they  thought 
best  not  to  do,  and  the  document  which  provided  for 
the  removal  of  Grant  went  into  the  waste  basket.  Grant 
kept  on  fighting,  in  every  instance  victorious,  but  Mc- 
Clernand  was  disappointed  of  his  hopes ;  and  only  a  few 
weeks  later  his  enforced  retirement  from  his  command 
was  a  natural  sequence. 


XXIII. 

THE  WONDERS  OF  THE  INVESTMENT  OF 
VICKSBURG. 

the  30th  of  April,  1863,  McClernand's 
command  and  a  portion  of  McPherson's 
corps  made  a  landing  on  the  east  side  of 
the  Mississippi.  Grand  Gulf  was  immedi- 
ately abandoned  by  the  Confederates,  and  for  a  short 
time  General  Grant  made  it  his  base  of  supplies.  It 
was  with  astonishing  rapidity  that  with  an  army  of 
hardly  more  than  20,000  strong  (Sherman's  command 
not  having  arrived),  and  confronted  by  an  enemy  twice 
his  own  strength,  General  Grant  began  the  land  move- 
ment for  the  investment  of  Vicksburg.  General  G.  F. 
R.  Henderson,  of  the  British  army,  emphasizes  the  fact 
in  his  Science  of  War  that  General  Grant  was  the  first 
to  perceive  that  in  a  comparatively  fertile  country  it 
was  possible  to  subsist  an  army  without  magazines  or 
a  base  of  supplies;  and  was  thereby  able  to  invest 


WONDERS  OF  THE  INVESTMENT  OF  VICKSBURG     153 

Vicksburg,  marching  completely  around  the  place  and 
defeating  all  the  troops  that  opposed  him. 

Of  the  beginning  of  this  extraordinary  movement, 
the  Hon.  E.  B.  Washburne  says :  "When  Grant  left  his 
headquarters  at  Smith's  plantation  (a  short  distance 
above  New  Carthage  on  the  Louisiana  side)  to  enter 
on  the  greatest  campaign  in  history,  he  did  not  take  with 
him  the  trappings  and  paraphernalia  so  common  among 
military  men.  All  depended  on  the  quickness  of  the 
movement.  It  was  important  that  he  should  be  encum- 
bered with  as  little  baggage  as  possible.  He  took  with 
him  no  orderly,  nor  horse,  nor  a  servant,  nor  an  over- 
coat, nor  a  camp  chest,  nor  even  a  clean  shirt.  His 
entire  baggage  for  the  six  days — I  was  with  him  at  that 
time — was  a  tooth-brush!  He  fared  like  the  com- 
monest soldier  in  his  command,  partaking  of  his  ra- 
tions and  sleeping  on  the  ground  with  no  covering  ex- 
cept the  canopy  of  heaven." 

The  first  battle  in  this  inland  campaign  was  fought 
at  Port  Gibson  on  Friday,  May  1st.  General  Mc- 
Clernand's  command  was  the  first  to  strike  the  enemy, 
and  sharp  fighting  lasted  all  the  day;  but  when  Mc- 
Pherson's  corps  came  on  the  field  the  Confederates  were 
compelled  to  retreat  before  a  largely  superior  number. 

On  the  8th  of  May  General  Grant  was  reinforced 
by  two  divisions  from  Sherman's  command,  which  had 
remained  above  Vicksburg,  this  addition  augmenting 
his  strength  to  32,000.  With  this  force,  in  a  flying 
campaign,  he  was  to  contend  with  Pemberton  and  Jo- 


154  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

sepli  E.  Johnston,  whose  united  strength  was  estimated 
at  from  40,000  to  50,000.  In  moving  towards  Jackson, 
fifty  miles  east  of  ^7icksburg,  General  Grant  purposely 
took  a  line  of  march  which  would  make  him  clash  with 
the  enemy.  As  the  farmer's  wife  spreads  out  her  apron 
to  drive  a  brood  of  chickens  into  a  coop,  General  Grant 
decided  to  spread  out  his  army  around  the  rear  of  the 
enemy  and  shoo  him  into  Vicksburg.  It  was  an  ad- 
mirable programme — never  before  heard  of  in  war. 

On  the  12th  of  May  General  McPherson  inflicted  a 
galling  defeat  on  the  enemy  at  Raymond.  The  army 
was  moving  eastward  on  different  roads,  under  various 
subordinate  commanders,  and  when  General  Grant 
heard  of  McPherson's  victory,  he  threw  as  much  of  his 
force  as  could  be  spared  on  Jackson,  the  capital  of  the 
state.  The  attack  was  made  on  Tuesday,  May  14th, 
but  Johnston,  shunning  a  conflict  with  General  Grant, 
rapidly  retreated  northward.  The  Richmond  Whig  of 
May  18th,  in  a  plaintive  mood  said :  "The  loss  of  Jack- 
son is  a  painful  and  disastrous  event ;  and  for  the  pres- 
ent Grant  is  making  things  look  ugly." 

With  Johnston  out  of  Jackson,  and  its  factories  for 
making  military  supplies  in  ashes,  General  Grant 
pushed  a  portion  of  his  army  to  Champion's  Hill, 
twenty  miles  west  from  the  capital.  Here,  on  the  16th 
of  May,  was  fought  the  hardest  and  bloodiest  battle  con- 
nected with  the  movement  against  Vicksburg.  Fifteen 
thousand  federals  were  engaged,  and  the  attack  was  so 
vigorous  and  persistent  that  Pemberton  was  compelled 


to  retreat  to  the  Big  Black  river,  only  ten  miles  from 
the  city  which  General  Grant  so  much  coveted.  On 
Sunday,  the  17th,  the  battle  of  Big  Black  was 
fought  and  won,  eighteen  cannon  and  2,000  prisoners 
being  captured.  "When  the  battle  was  in  progress," 
says  the  General,  "an  officer  from  Banks  came  up  and 
presented  me  a  letter  from  Halleck,  dated  May  llth. 
It  had  been  sent  by  the  way  of  New  Orleans  to  Banks 
to  be  forwarded  to  me.  It  ordered  me  to  return  to 
Grand  Gulf  and  to  cooperate  against  Port  Hudson,  and 
then  to  return  with  our  combined  forces  to  besiege 
Vicksburg.  I  told  the  officer  that  the  order  came  too 
late,  and  that  Halleck  would  not  give  it  now  if  he  knew 
our  position.  The  bearer  of  the  dispatch  insisted  that  I 
ought  to  obey  the  order,  and  was  giving  arguments  to 
support  his  position,  when  I  heard  great  cheering  to 
the  right  of  our  line,  and,  looking  in  that  direction,  I 
saw  General  Lawler,  in  his  shirt  sleeves,  leading  a 
charge.  I  immediately  mounted  my  horse  and  galloped 
in  that  direction,  and  saw  no  more  of  the  officer  who 
delivered  the  dispatch,  I  think  not  even  to  this  day." 

The  boldness  of  General  Grant's  manoeuvers  is  not 
more  remarkable  than  the  skill  and  good  fortune  with 
which  he  struck  the  forces  of  the  enemy  successively  in 
detachments  as  they  came  in  his  way,  and  there  was  not 
a  .straggling  battle  among  them.  He  kept  his  own 
army  in  fighting  trim  and  on  the  move  almost  day  and 
night,  and  completely  bewildered  the  enemy  as  well  as 
defeated  him  in  battle  whether  large  or  small.  It  was 


156  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

a  culmination  of  successes  of  such  splendor  and  com- 
bined such  solid  advantages — so  various  and  important 
— that  political  thinkers  and  military  critics,  as  well  as 
the  popular  heart,  were  not  only  fascinated  but  roused  to 
enthusiasm. 

In  seventeen  days  from  the  time  General  Grant 
landed  his  troops  below  Vicksburg,  he  fought  and  won 
five  battles,  captured  27  heavy  cannon,  61  pieces  of 
artillery,  and  6,000  prisoners.  His  own  loss  was  only 
690  killed  and  3,400  wounded.  He  marched  over  two 
hundred  miles,  and  had  so  confused  the  Confederate 
commanders  that  they  were  unable  to  unite  their  forces 
thereafter.  His  whole  movement  was  so  thorough,  em- 
phatic, and  brilliant  as  to  furnish  a  striking  contrast 
to  what  was  going  on  where  the  great  army  of  the  East 
was  supposed  to  be  moving. 

It  was  on  the  18th  of  May,  the  day  after  Big 
Black,  that  the  two  comrades — Grant  and  Sherman — 
stood  on  Walnut  Hills,  northward  from  Vicksburg, 
overlooking  the  city.  To  Sherman  the  scene  revived 
impressive,  if  not  sad  memories.  He  was  looking  down 
on  the  place  at  which  he  made  his  disastrous  assault  in 
the  previous  December.  But  now,  confident  that  the 
city  would  fall,  he  could  say  with  full  satisfaction  to 
Grant,  "This  ends  one  of  the  greatest  campaigns  in  his- 
tory." And  two  weeks  later,  on  the  same  hilltops, 
when  several  state  officials  from  the  North  were  visit- 
ing General  Grant,  in  an  animated  conversation  on  the 
glories  of  the  achievement,  Sherman  declared  to  them, 


WONDERS  OF  THE  INVESTMENT  OF  VWKSBURG     157 

"Grant  is  entitled  to  every  bit  of  the  credit  for  this 
campaign.  I  opposed  it ;  I  wrote  him  a  letter  about  it." 
But  General  Grant  was  not  to  be  outdone  in  frankness 
and  fairness  by  his  friend  Sherman,  and  afterwards  he 
wrote  this  acknowledgment  from  the  fulness  of  his 
heart :  "But  for  this  speech,  it  is  not  likely  that  Sher- 
man's opposition  would  have  ever  been  heard  of.  His 
untiring  energy  and  great  efficiency  during  the  cam- 
paign entitle  him  to  a  full  share  of  all  the  credit  due 
for  its  success.  He  could  not  have  done  more  if  the 
plan  had  been  his  own." 

One  of  the  great  crises  of  the  war  in  the  West  was 
decided  when  Pemberton,  with  his  30,000  men,  sought 
refuge  behind  the  breastworks  at  Vicksburg.  General 
Grant's  steady,  persistent  marching  and  fighting  from 
Port  Gibson  to  Big  Black,  was  to  make  the  Confederate 
general  seal  his  own  fate  by  doing  exactly  what  he  did. 
Thus  having  got  Pemberton  where  he  could  do  no  harm, 
General  Grant  immediately  began  to  arrange  his  forces 
for  the  complete  investment  of  the  city.  The  line  of 
defense  which  the  Confederates  were  obliged  to  main- 
tain was  seven  miles  long,  and  was  in  crescent  form. 
The  Union  line  of  offense  was  between  twelve  and  fif- 
teen miles  in  length,  and  stretched  from  Haines'  Bluff 
on  the  north  to  a  point  south  near  Warrenton  on  the 
Mississippi.  Gullies,  deep  ravines,  steep  hills,  and 
other  obstructions  were  so  numerous  that  the  approach 
of  an  invading  army  from  the  east  was  made  very  diffi- 
cult. But  as  early  as  May  19th,  before  the  city  was 


158  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

fully  invested,  General  Grant  ordered  an  assault  chiefly 
on  the  northern  part  of  the  line.  The  assault  was  made 
at  this  time  on  the  supposition  that  after  Pemberton's 
terrible  defeat  at  Champion's  Hill  and  Big  Black,  he 
could  not  make  a  strong-  defense.  But  in  this  move- 
ment General  Grant  was  disappointed,  as  the  only 
advantage  secured  was  a  more  advanced  position  in  a 
few  places.  The  assaults  on  May  22nd  were  also  with- 
out a  compensating  benefit,  except  perhaps  that  they 
established  the  fact  that  the  only  method  by  which  the 
city  could  be  captured  with  a  minimum  loss  of  life 
was  the  substitution  of  the  pick  and  spade  for  the  bayo- 
net. 

The  reason  for  making  the  assault  on  the  afternoon 
of  the  22nd,  for  which  General  Grant  has  been  severely 
and  unjustly  criticised,  should  receive  a  clearer  explana- 
tion than  is  made  in  the  Memoirs  or  by  several  of  his 
biographers. 

The  General  was  not  satisfied  with  the  assault  on 
the  19th  of  May,  and  he  determined  to  make  a  second 
attempt  to  break  through  the  enemy's  line  of  intrench- 
ments.  The  assault  was  ordered  to  be  made  at  ten 
o'clock  A.  M.  on  the  22nd,  in  which  the  whole  line,  from 
north  to  south,  should  be  engaged.  "While  the  attack 
was  a  gallant  one,"  says  Grant,  "and  portions  of  each  of 
three  corps  succeeded  in  getting  up  to  the  very  parapets 
of  the  enemy,  and  in  planting  their  battle-flags  upon 
them,  at  no  place  were  we  able  to  enter." 

It  was  immediately  after  this  assault  was  made  that 


WONDERS  OF  THE  L\  VESTMENT  OF  VICKSBURG     159 

General  Grant  lost  hope  of  being  able  to  achieve  any 
satisfactory  result  by  charging  upon  the  enemy's  works. 
But  in  a  few  minutes  after  the  assault  had  been  made, 
and  while  Generals  Grant  and  Sherman  were  convers- 
ing on  the  situation  of  affairs,  the  former  received  a 
message  from  General  McClernand,  commanding  the 
Thirteenth  Corps,  which  said  that  his  "troops  had  cap- 
tured the  rebel  parapet  in  his  front,  and  that  the  flag 
of  the  Union  was  waving  over  the  stronghold  of  Vicks- 
burg."  In  the  same  message  he  urged  General  Grant  "to 
give  orders  to  Sherman  and  McPherson  to  press  their  at- 
tacks on  their  respective  fronts,  lest  the  enemy  should 
concentrate  on  him"  (McClernand).  But  General 
Grant,  who  had  previously  reconnoitered  McClernand's 
front,  said  to  Sherman,  "I  don't  believe  a  word  of  it." 
But  General  Sherman  insisted  that  as  the  note  was  in 
McClernand's  handwriting,  and  therefore  official,  it 
must  be  credited,  and  he  offered  "to  renew  the  assault  at 
once  with  new  troops."  So  insistent  was  McClernand 
for  reinforcements  that,  a  few  minutes  later,  he  sent  a 
second  note  to  General  Grant,  who,  feeling  that  he  could 
not  ignore  it,  sent  Quimby's  division  of  the  Seventeenth 
Corps,  and  Sherman  and  McPherson  were  ordered  to  re- 
new the  assault  at  three  o'clock.  Precisely  at  the  hour 
and  minute  named  by  General  Grant,  the  Fifteenth  and 
Seventeenth  Corps  began  the  assault  upon  the  enemy's 
works  as  a  diversion  in  favor  of  McClernand.  Furious 
charges  were  made  at  three  distinct  points ;  but  mortal 
man  could  not  stand  before  the  storm  of  bullets  which 


160  GRAKT,  THE  MAX  OF  MYSTERY 

came  from  the  parapets,  and  the  assault,  so  bloody,  and 
so  heroically  made,  was  of  no  avail. 

These  assaults  revealed  the  fact  that  McCleruaud's 
note  to  General  Grant  that  he  had  captured  a  rebel 
parapet  and  that  the  Union  flag  waved  over  the  strong- 
hold of  Vicksburg,  was  untrue.  But  wishing  to  justify 
his  strange  conduct  on  the  afternoon  of  the  22nd,  Mc- 
Clernand  issued  a  proclamation  to  his  corps,  which  was 
full  of  self-flattery  and  injustice  to  the  other  corps. 
In  effect  it  charged  that  if  Sherman  and  McPherson 
had  obeyed  General  Grant's  orders  in  making  the  as- 
sault, the  enemy  would  not  have  been  allowed  to  mass 
his  forces  against  the  Thirteenth  Corps.  The  procla- 
mation was  published  in  the  St.  Louis  Democrat  on  the 
10th  of  June,  and  in  the  Memphis  Bulletin  on  the  13th ; 
and  when  copies  reached  the  army  before  Vicksburg, 
General  Grant  sent  the  following  dispatch  to  Halleck 
on  June  19th: 

"I  have  found  it  necessary  to  relieve  General  McClernand, 
particularly  at  this  time,  for  his  publication  of  a  congratulatory 
address  calculated  to  create  dissension  and  ill-feeling  in  the  army. 
I  should  have  relieved  him  long  since  for  his  general  unfitness 
for  his  position." 

After  the  assault  of  the  22nd,  the  work  of  forcing 
Vicksburg  to  capitulate  consisted  of  the  routine  of 
digging  rifle  pits  by  night  and  occupying  them  by  day, 
with  an  occasional  "scrap"  with  the  enemy,  pushing 
the  lines  closer  and  closer,  and  mining  and  countermin- 
ing, with  now  and  then  an  explosion.  It  was  weari- 
some work  at  best,  and  oftentimes  painful,  but  the  prize 


was  always  in  sight,  and  the  army  did  not  complain. 
In  front  of  the  enemy's  fortifications  were  between 
40,000  and  50,000  Union  troops,  and  along  the  twelve 
miles  or  more  of  rifle  pits  were  planted  220  pieces  of 
artillery. 

The  most  marvellous  factor  in  this  extraordinary 
military  movement  was  General  Grant  himself.  He 
stood  alone  in  its  bold  conception ;  and  when  he  got  all 
his  troops  in  front  of  the  enemy's  works,  in  his  own 
quiet  way  he  studied  the  operations  from  one  end  of 
the  line  to  the  other.  He  did  not  say  much  to  the  out- 
side world  of  what  was  going  on  within  his  lines.  It 
was  this  personal  characteristic  of  saying  little  and 
doing  much  that  led  President  Lincoln  to  tell  General 
Burnside  that  Grant  was  "a  copious  worker  and  fighter, 
but  a  meager  writer  and  telegrapher." 

During  the  siege  many  incidents  occurred  daily 
which  illustrated  General  Grant's  astonishing  equipoise, 
confidence,  and  courage,  and  also  the  close  personal  at- 
tention he  gave  to  numerous  details.  One  of  these  inci- 
dents was  given  me  by  General  Logan,  which  I  use  as  a 
preface  to  his  own  conclusion  at  the  time,  regarding 
General  Grant's  faith  in  himself.  In  front  of  Logan's 
division  some  columbiads  were  being  mounted,  and 
General  Grant  desired  to  superintend  the  operation. 
During  the  preliminary  work  he  mounted  the  epaule- 
ment,  and,  heedless  of  the  danger  from  the  thickly  fly- 
ing bullets  and  shells  from  the  enemy's  works,  he  calmly 
and  slowly  whittled  at  a  rail  until  the  guns  were  placed 


162  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

in  a  position  to  suit  him.  It  was  such  a  surprising  ex- 
hibition of  self-control  and  courage  that  General  Logan 
added :  "It  did  seem  to  me  from  this  incident,  and  from 
the  ease  and  confidence  with  which  he  planned  and  di- 
rected that  whole  campaign,  that  if  Lincoln  had  said  to 
him:  'Put  down  the  rebellion  in  twelve  months/  Grant 
would  not  have  hesitated  to  take  the  contract !" 

No  unwalled  city  could  long  endure  the  hardship 
and  hopelessness  of  such  a  siege.  From  the  mortal- 
boats  bombs  and  shells  flew  with  hideous  shrieking 
through  the  night  air,  bursting  over  the  homes  of  the 
terrified  inhabitants.  Day  after  day  and  night  after 
night  General  Grant  tightened  his  grip  on  the  city  by 
pressing  his  lines  closer  and  closer  to  the  fortifications. 
Pemberton's  position  was  hopeless  from  the  start,  but 
he  did  not  seem  to  see  the  inevitable  hour  until  after 
six  weeks,  when  his  people  began  to  plead  for  bread 
and  he  had  completely  lost  all  power  to  make  further 
defense. 

It  was  on  Friday  morning,  July  3d,  when,  in  a  sul- 
len state  of  mind,  Pemberton  sent  a  flag  of  truce 
to  General  Grant,  asking  the  appointment  of  commis- 
sioners to  arrange  terms  of  surrender.  But  the  Gen- 
eral did  not  favor  this  proposal,  and  for  good  reason. 
Of  course  he  advised  with  his  generals,  but  with  the 
reservation  that  he  must  hold  in  his  own  hand  the  right 
of  deciding  upon  the  terms  on  which  the  surrender 
should  be  made.  As  he  had  been  held  personally  re- 
sponsible for  victory  or  defeat  in  every  campaign  in 


WONDERS  OF  THE  INVESTMENT  OF  VICKSBURG     163 

which  he  was  chief  in  command  since  he  entered  the 
volunteer  army,  he  determined  to  stand  by  his  own  con- 
victions. And  perhaps  the  old  saying  that  councils 
of  war  never  fight,  suggested  to  him  that  neither  com- 
missioners nor  a  council  would  in  any  way  change  his 
mind. 

Hardly  any  two  accounts  agree  in  all  the  details 
relating  to  the  meeting  of  Generals  Grant  and  Pember- 
ton.  It  was  an  impressive,  as  well  as  a  momentous 
hour;  and  it  is  difficult  to  determine  which  account  is 
entitled  to  the  most  credit.  But  as  the  correspondent 
of  the  Cincinnati  Commercial  was  an  eye-witness  to  the 
scene,  and  was  regarded  as  a  faithful  chronicler,  I  quote 
three  paragraphs  from  him.  General  Grant  having 
declined  to  accept  Pemberton's  proposition  to  appoint 
commissioners,  as  well  as  to  call  a  council  of  war,  the 
correspondent  says: 

"General  Pemberton  then  requested  a  personal  in- 
terview, which  was  permitted  by  Grant  at  three  o'clock 
Friday  afternoon.  The  latter  with  his  staff  appeared 
on  the  hills  where  our  advance  works  were.  Here  they 
halted.  Pemberton  was  accompanied  by  General 
Bowen  and  Colonel  Montgomery.  On  the  crest  of  the 
opposite  hills  were  rifle  pits  and  forts  crowded  with 
men.  In  the  spaces  in  a  grove  of  fruit  trees  met  the 
contending  heroes.  Thousands  of  soldiers  looked  upon 
this  strange  scene.  Two  men  who  had  been  lieutenants 
in  Mexico,  now  met  as  foes  with  all  the  world  looking 
upon  them. 


164  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

"Colonel  Montgomery  spoke :  'General  Grant,  Gen- 
eral Pemberton.'  They  shook  hands  politely.  But  it 
was  evident  that  Pemberton  was  mortified.  He  said: 
'When  I  was  at  Monterey  and  Buena  Vista,  we  had 
terms  and  conditions  there.' 

"Grant  then  took  him  aside.  They  sat  down  on  the 
grass  and  talked  for  more  than  an  hour.  Grant  smoked 
all  the  time  and  Pemberton  played  with  the  grass  and 
pulled  leaves;  and  finally  Grant  agreed  to  parole  the 
Confederates,  allowing  each  officer  to  take  his  horse."* 

The  details  of  the  conversation  between  the  con- 
queror and  the  vanquished  foe  will  probably  never  be 
fully  known.  No  biographer  of  General  Grant  and 
no  member  of  his  military  family  heard  a  word  of  what 
passed  between  them;  and  neither  the  General  nor 


•AUTHOB'S  NOTE  : — In  my  Journal  of  Friday  evening  July  3d,  1863, 
I  made  the  following  note  .  .  .  "At  8  o'clock  this  morning  hun- 
dreds of  rebels  were  seen  standing  on  their  fortifications.  Both  armies 
laid  down  their  arms.  About  noon  I  went  with  part  of  my  company 
(H.  33d  Wis.)  near  the  enemy's  fort,  which  was  hardly  more  than  200 
yards  from  our  line,  and  there  the  blue  and  the  gray  chatted  pleas- 
antly for  a  full  hour.  The  meeting  was  so  unrestrained  and  ami- 
cable as  to  make  the  scene  exceedingly  interesting  and  touching  as 
well.  My  boys  gave  the  contents  of  their  haversacks  to  the  rebels 
whom  they  had  been  fighting  for  nearly  forty  days  and  nights,  and 
the  defenders  of  the  city  deeply  appreciated  the  kindness." 

And  on  Saturday  the  4th :  "This  has  been  a  day  of  great  excite- 
ment. The  morning  dawned  with  as  much  quietness  as  if  it  were 
Sunday  in  the  North.  How  strange  it  seemed,  this  silence  after  such 
a  long  and  roaring  siege !  White  flags  were  raised  upon  every  Con- 
federate fort.  In  the  morning  a  national  salute  was  fired  with  blank 
cartridge  by  all  the  cannon  on  the  line,  and  continued  for  some  time. 
And  what  a  roar  of  thunder !  If  all  the  artillery  of  heaven  had  com- 
bined in  one  grand  outburst  of  sound  it  could  not  have  surpassed 
this  salute  at  Vicksburg.  Perhaps  nothing  equal  to  it  was  ever  heard 
before  or  will  ever  be  heard  again  on  any  battlefield." 


WONDERS  OF  THE  INVESTMENT  OF  VICKSBURG     165 

Pemberton  ever  made  public  any  part  of  the  conversa- 
tion. 

The  dread  of  going  North,  and  the  fear  of  harsh 
treatment,  are  said  to  have  deterred  the  Confederates 
from  capitulating  earlier  in  the  siege.  The  exercise  of 
magnanimity  and  charity  was  as  natural  to  General 
Grant  as  breathing;  and  he  demonstrated  on  this  occa- 
sion that  the  hand  that  wielded  the  sword  was  moved  by 
kindness  as  well  as  by  patriotism.  The  prisoners  of  war, 
who  so  long  lived  in  hunger,  now  received  abundant  ra- 
tions. So  much  kindness  was  shown  them  that  when  the 
Union  troops  entered  the  city,  both  sides  "fraternized  as 
if  they  had  been  fighting  for  the  same  cause."  And 
when  the  Confederates  passed  out  of  town  between  two 
lines  of  Federal  soldiers,  the  scene  was  solemn  and  pa- 
thetic. Under  instruction  from  General  Grant,  not  a 
cheer  or  a  word  came  from  the  conquerors  that  would 
humilitate  the  fallen  foe  or  give  them  pain. 

When  the  terms  of  surrender  were  agreed  upon, 
General  Grant  displayed  no  pride  of  feeling.  His  de- 
meanor on  the  4th  was  remarkably  modest.  Instead  of 
receiving  the  surrender  of  the  army  and  the  city  in 
person,  he  bestowed  that  conspicuous  honor  upon  Gen- 
eral McPherson,  his  youngest  corps  commander.  On 
that  auspicious  day  General  Grant  rode  into  the  city 
and  witnessed  the  raising  of  the  stars  and  stripes  on  the 
court  house,  by  the  Forty-fifth  Illinois. 

While  the  news  of  the  surrender  was  hailed  with 
joyful  acclaim  and  with  one  universal  cheer  for  the 


166  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

victor,  it  is  interesting  and  impressive  to  turn  from  the 
pomp  and  circumstance  of  a  great  victory  to  an  incident 
that  reveals  the  character  of  the  real  Grant,  which  I  give 
as  Admiral  Porter  records  it :  "When  the  Union  flag  was 
hoisted  on  the  ramparts  of  \7'icksburg,  my  flagship  and 
every  vessel  of  the  fleet  steamed  up  or  down  the  river 
to  the  levee  before  the  city.  We  discovered  a  dust  in 
the  distance,  and  in  a  few  moments  Grant,  at  the  head 
of  nearly  all  his  generals  with  their  staffs,  rode  up  to 
the  gangway,  and  dismounting,  came  on  board.  That 
was  a  happy  meeting,  a  great  hand-shaking  and  general 
congratulations.  .  .  .  There  was  one  man  in  the 
party  who  preserved  the  same  quiet  demeanor  that  he 
always  bore  whether  in  adversity  or  in  victory,  and  that 
was  General  Grant.  No  one,  to  see  him  sitting  there 
with  that  calm  exterior,  amidst  all  the  jollity,  and  with- 
out any  staff,  would  ever  have  taken  him  for  the  great 
general  who  had  accomplished  one  of  the  most  stu- 
pendous military  feats  on  record. 

"There  was  a  quiet  satisfaction  in  his  face  that  could 
not  be  concealed,  but  he  behaved  on  that  occasion  as  if 
nothing  of  importance  had  occurred.  He  was  the  only 
one  in  that  assemblage  who  did  not  touch  the  simple 
wine  offered  him.  He  contented  himself  with  a  cigar ; 
and  let  me  say  here  that  this  was  his  habit  during  all 
the  time  he  commanded  before  Vicksburg,  and  also 
while  he  commanded  before  Richmond." 

In  the  great  shower  of  congratulatory  messages 
which  came  to  the  General  immediately  after  the  siege, 


WONDERS  OF  THE  INVESTMENT  OF  VICKSBURG     167 

the  one  which  impressed  him  most  was  sent  by  Presi- 
dent Lincoln.  It  was  dated  at  Washington,  July  16th, 
1863,  the  full  text  of  which  is  given: 

"My  DEAB  GENERAL:  I  do  not  remember  that  you  and  I 
ever  met  personally.  I  write  this  now  as  a  grateful  acknowledg- 
ment for  the  almost  inestimable  services  you  have  done  the 
country. 

"I  wish  to  say  further:  When  you  reached  the  vicinity  of 
Vicksburg,  I  thought  you  should  do  what  you  finally  did — march 
the  troops  across  the  neck,  run  the  batteries  with  the  transports, 
and  thus  go  below;  and  I  never  had  any  faith,  except  a  general 
hope  that  you  knew  better  than  I,  that  the  Yazoo  Pass  expedition 
and  the  like  would  succeed. 

"When  you  got  below  and  took  Port  Gibson,  Grand  Gulf,  and 
vicinity,  I  thought  you  should  go  down  the  river  and  join  Gen- 
eral Banks;  and  when  you  turned  northward,  east  of  the  Big 
Black,  I  feared  it  was  a  mistake.  I  now  wish  to  make  a  personal 
acknowledgment  that  you  were  right  and  I  was  wrong." 

The  capture  of  Vicksburg  included  29,500  men,  172 
cannon,  and  60,000  muskets ;  and  probably  never  before 
was  so  great  a  victory  won  at  so  small  a  cost  of  life.  But 
the  capture  of  men  and  guns  did  not  count  most  in  this 
victory.  The  moral  effect  was  almost  immeasurable. 
The  whole  country  felt  the  inspiriting  event.  The  re- 
bellion in  the  West  had  reached  its  crisis.  General  Ed- 
ward P.  Alexander  of  the  Confederate  army  thought 
the  Vicksburg  campaign  the  most  brilliant  strategy  of 
the  whole  war.  Other  battles  were  to  be  fought  and 
won;  but  it  was  from  Vicksburg  that  the  Confederacy 
heard  the  crack  of  doom. 


XXIV. 

CHICKAMAUGA  IS  AVENGED  AT 
CHATTANOOGA. 

JEKERAL  GRANT  spent  a  few  weeks  at 
Vicksburg  after  the  surrender,  ostensibly  to 
take  rest,  which  he  so  much  needed,  but 
during  this  temporary  relief  from  field 
duty  he  found  time  to  make  mental  maps  of  the  situa- 
tion eastward  and  southward.  It  was  during  this  re- 
laxation from  the  immediate  charge  of  a  campaign 
that  he  was  commissioned  a  major  general  in  the 
regular  army,  which  greatly  enlarged  his  powers  and 
vastly  increased  his  responsibility.  At  that  time  he  de- 
sired to  organize  an  expedition  against  Mobile,  capture 
the  city,  and  place  that  section  of  the  South  under 
Federal  control;  but  such  a  campaign  seemed  im- 
practicable to  Halleck  and  Stanton,  who  interposed  an 
objection  which  proved  a  serious  blunder  and  was  a 
sore  disappointment  to  General  Grant. 

During  the  latter  part  of  August,  1863,  the  General 


CHICKAMAUGA  18  AVENGED  AT  CHATTANOOGA     169 

went  to  New  Orleans  for  the  purpose  of  conferring  with 
General  Banks,  and  returning  from  a  review  of  the 
troops  near  Carrolton,  a  few  miles  from  the  city,  his 
horse  became  frightened  at  a  passing  locomotive,  and  he 
was  thrown  to  the  ground  with  such  violence  as  to  ren- 
der him  unconscious  for  several  hours.  The  General 
was  placed  in  a  hotel,  where  he  remained  over  a  week, 
his  suffering  much  of  the  time  being  almost  beyond 
endurance.  He  was  finally  taken  to  Vicksburg  by  boat, 
where  he  remained  helpless  for  many  days. 

While  the  General  was  confined  to  his  bed  in  New 
Orleans,  Halleck  telegraphed  him  to  send  reinforce- 
ments to  Rosecrans,  who  was  operating  against  Bragg 
in  Tennessee  and  northern  Georgia.  Telegraphic  com- 
munication between  Washington  and  New  Orleans  was 
in  such  a  wretched  condition  that  the  dispatches  were 
delayed  two  weeks,  and  in  the  meantime  the  battle  be- 
tween Bragg  and  Rosecrans  had  been  fought  at  Chicka- 
mauga  (Sept.  19-20),  and  the  Union  forces  were  driven 
into  Chattanooga. 

The  loss  of  the  battle  caused  a  demoralization  of 
Rosecrans'  army.  Both  Lincoln  and  Halleck  were 
nearly  frantic  at  the  situation  of  affairs  at  Chattanooga, 
as  Bragg  was  threatening  to  besiege  the  city.  A  great 
battle  must  yet  be  fought.  The  question  uppermost  in 
the  mind  of  everybody  who  understood  the  perilous 
condition  of  the  army  was :  "Who  must  fight  and  win 
the  battle?"  Rosecrans  could  not  be  considered,  be- 


170  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

cause  his  usefulness  as  a  commander  ended  at  Chicka- 
mauga. 

Circumstances  demanded  a  new  leader.  Washing- 
ton was  looking  to  General  Grant.  He  had  genius  and 
nerve,  which  could  not  be  said  of  any  other  commander 
of  a  department.  He  was  a  tonic  to  the  people  and  to 
the  Administration.  Chattanooga  must  be  saved,  be- 
cause it  was  the  gateway  to  the  sea.  So  thoroughly  did 
the  Administration  begin  to  believe  in  General  Grant, 
that,  while  at  Vicksburg,  unable  to  walk  without  assist- 
ance, he  received  this  significant  message  from  Halleck : 
"It  is  the  wish  of  the  Secretary  of  War  that  as  soon  as 
General  Grant  is  able  he  will  come  to  Cairo  and  report 
by  telegraph."  As  early  as  possible  he  departed  for 
Cairo,  and  on  the  17th  of  October  he  received  a  dispatch 
at  Cairo  directing  him  to  repair  to  Louisville,  the  route 
being  by  rail  by  the  way  of  Indianapolis. 

The  confidence  of  Lincoln  and  Stanton  in  Grant  as 
a  succor  in  time  of  trouble  is  splendidly  illustrated  in 
the  fact  that  when  he  reached  Indianapolis  and  took  the 
train  for  Louisville,  he  met  the  Secretary  of  War,  and 
together  they  proceeded  to  that  city.  Stanton  had  gone 
all  the  way  from  Washington  to  the  West  to  have  a  per- 
sonal interview  with  the  General.  They  had  never  met 
before.  When  on  the  train,  the  Secretary  gave  Grant 
two  documents  of  vital  import.  They  created  the  mili- 
tary division  of  the  Mississippi,  giving  Grant  the  com- 
mand of  the  departments  of  the  Ohio,  the  Cumberland, 
and  the  Tennessee,  the  largest  individual  command  in 


GHICKAMAUGA  IS  AVENGED  AT  CHATTANOOGA     171 

the  army,  and  including  all  the  territory  from  the  Alle- 
ghenies  to  the  Mississippi  north  of  the  limits  of  Banks' 
command.  There  was  only  this  difference  in  the  docu- 
ments— "one  left  the  department  commanders  as  they 
were,  while  the  other  relieved  Rosecrans  and  assigned 
Thomas  to  his  place." 

Assistant  Secretary  of  War  Charles  A.  Dana  was  at 
Chattanooga  immediately  after  the  battle  of  Chicka- 
mauga;  and  from  that  point  he  telegraphed  General 
Grant  at  Louisville  to  the  effect  that  unless  prevented, 
Rosecrans  would  retreat,  and  he  advised  the  issuing  of 
peremptory  orders  against  such  a  movement.  Thomas, 
whom  Garfield  called  the  "Rock  of  Chickamauga,"  and 
who  saved  the  left  wing  of  the  army  from  destruction 
in  that  battle,  was  considered  by  General  Grant  the 
safer  general  in  time  of  great  emergency,  and  therefore 
he  gave  him  the  command  of  the  Cumberland. 

No  general  in  the  army  was  less  influenced  by  preju- 
dice than  General  Grant.  Considering  the  large  num- 
ber of  subordinates  of  widely  varying  temperaments 
and  opinions  with  whom  he  was  associated,  very  few 
forfeited  his  confidence  or  incurred  his  displeasure.  It 
was  natural  in  him  to  overlook  unintentional  errors,  but 
he  could  not  condone  inexcusable  blunders.  At  one 
time  he  became  impatient  because  of  the  weakness  of 
one  of  his  generals,  and  he  asked  the  authorities  at 
Washington  to  relieve  the  officer  "until  all  danger  had 
passed."  It  was  this  feeling  of  distrust  toward  Rose- 


172  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

crans  that  led  General  Grant  to  prefer  Thomas  when  a 
great  battle  was  inevitable. 

When  General  Grant  and  Secretary  Stanton  ar- 
rived at  Louisville,  the  former  sent  to  Thomas  the 
notable  message:  "Hold  Chattanooga  at  all  hazards. 
I  will  be  there  as  soon  as  possible."  The  brave  soldier 
who  had  been  the  rock  of  defense  on  the  left  at  Chicka- 
mauga,  flashed  back  the  inspiriting  answer:  "We  will 
hold  the  town  till  we  starve."  Although  General 
Grant  was  yet  in  a  crippled  condition,  his  purpose  to 
relieve  Chattanooga  at  the  earliest  day  possible  was  as 
determined  as  his  courage  and  physical  endurance  were 
sublime;  and  on  the  20th  of  October,  1863,  he  started 
for  the  besieged  city  where  the  soldiers  were  facing 
starvation. 

It  was  a  strange  sight,  and  deeply  pathetic,  to  see 
General  Grant,  painfully  lame,  feeble  from  weeks  of 
great  suffering,  hurried  off  to  Chattanooga,  to  amend — 
so  far  as  such  a  thing  was  within  human  power — the 
blunder  of  the  War  Department  in  having  made  it 
necessary  to  fight  the  ill-fated  battle  of  Chickamauga. 
No  one  in  the  West,  or  in  Washington  for  that  matter, 
had  so  clear  a  conception  of  the  most  effective  way  of 
crippling  the  Confederacy  in  the  West  and  South  as 
General  Grant.  As  it  has  already  been  intimated,  he 
had  his  military  eye  on  Mobile.  He  had  studied  thor- 
oughly the  situation  in  all  parts  of  the  West  and  South. 
He  believed  firmly  that  the  next  best  movement  of  his 
well-organized  Vicksburg  army  was  to  attack  Mobile 


CHICKAMAUGA  18  AVENGED  AT  CHATTANOOGA     173 

with  the  cooperation  of  the  navy.  This  would  compel 
Bragg  to  withdraw  his  forces  from  Tennessee  and  north- 
ern Georgia  for  the  defense  of  Mobile,  and  there  he 
would  entrap  himself  as  Pembertori  had  done  at  Vicks- 
burg.  But  as  clear  and  practical  as  was  this  movement, 
he  was  overruled  by  Halleck  and  Stanton,  and  the  army 
which  did  such  splendid  service  in  the  great  siege  was 
scattered  hither  and  thither,  and  a  part  of  the  penalty 
of  this  shortsightedness  of  the  War  Office  was  the  inglo- 
rious defeat  at  Chickamauga. 

It  was  far  in  the  night  when  General  Grant  reached 
Nashville,  but  before  retiring  he  sent  important  orders 
to  Sherman  at  Eastport,  to  Admiral  Porter  at  Cairo, 
to  Burnside,  who  was  henmied  in  at  Knoxville,  and  to 
Thomas  at  Chattanooga.  No  mistake  of  Rosecrans,  no 
difficulty  at  Chattanooga,  no  impairment  of  the  facili- 
ties by  which  the  besieged  army  in  that  city  could  be 
rationed  clouded  his  conception  of  how  the  campaign 
against  Bragg  could  be  successfully  conducted.  "It 
was  the  small  man  on  crutches"  against  the  astute  and 
robust  Bragg  and  his  beleaguering  army. 

Chattanooga  is  one  hundred  miles  south-east  of 
Nashville.  The  nearest  railway  point  to  Chattanooga 
was  Bridgeport,  forty  miles  west.  General  Grant  rode 
that  distance  mostly  on  horseback,  and  when  it  became 
dangerous  for  him  to  cross  overflowing  streams  or  wash- 
outs, soldiers  carried  their  uncomplaining  commander 
in  their  arms.  It  was  a  journey  of  forty  miles  over 
many  dangerous  passages,  particularly  over  the  moun- 


174  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

tains,  but  not  discouraged  by  hardships  nor  overcome  by 
physical  debility,  he  pushed  on  to  Chattanooga  and 
reached  General  Thomas  on  the  evening  of  Octo- 
ber 23rd. 

General  O.  O.  Howard,  who  had  been  ordered  from 
the  East  with  the  Eleventh  corps  to  take  part  in  the 
impending  battle,  met  General  Grant  at  Bridgeport, 
and  records  this  impression  of  him :  "As  I  stepped  into 
the  forward  part  of  the  car,  General  Grant,  sitting 
near  the  rear  end,  was  pointed  out  to  me,  and  I  passed 
on  at  once  to  pay  my  respects.  Imagine  my  surprise 
when  I  saw  him.  He  had  been  for  some  time  before 
the  public  the  successful  commander  in  important 
battles;  the  newspapers  had  said  much  for  him,  and 
several  virulent  sheets  had  said  much  against  him ;  and 
so,  judging  by  the  accounts,  I  had  conceived  him  to  be  of 
very  large  size  and  of  rough  appearance.  The  actual 
man  was  quite  different;  not  larger  than  McClellan, 
at  that  time  rather  thin  in  flesh,  and  pale  in  complexion, 
and  noticeably  self-constrained  and  retiring.  .  .  . 

"The  General  and  I  shared  a  wall  tent  between  us. 
He  had  a  humorous  expression  which  I  noticed  as  his 
eye  fell  upon  a  liquor  flask  hanging  against  the  tent 
wall.  'That  flask  is  not  mine,'  I  quickly  said.  'It  was 
left  here  by  an  officer  to  be  returned  to  Chattanooga. 
I  never  drink.'  'Neither  do  I,'  was  his  prompt  reply; 
and  the  reply  was  not  in  sport." 

When  General  Grant  arrived  at  Chattanooga  he 
found  a  deplorable  state  of  affairs ;  but  his  presence  soon 


CHICKAMAUGA  18  AVENGED  AT  CHATTANOOGA     175 

caused  the  dejected  army  to  brace  up  and  take  courage. 
The  men  seemed  to  take  it  for  granted  that  wherever 
the  General  went,  food  and  victory  soon  followed.  The 
facilities  for  rationing  the  army  were  lamentable,  the 
soldiers  living  in  almost  constant  hunger.  He  put  vigor 
in  his  effort  to  open  the  "cracker  line"from  Nashville 
to  Chattanooga,  and  in  five  days  after  his  arrival,  the 
troops  were  praising  God  and  cheering  their  new  com- 
mander for  the  abundance  of  good  rations. 

In  a  valley  on  the  south  side  of  the  Tennessee  river 
lies  Chattanooga.  Eastward  from  the  city  is  Mission- 
ary Ridge,  rising  500  or  600  feet  above  the  river,  and 
running  in  a  southerly  direction.  Southwestward  is 
Lookout  Mountain,  2,400  feet  high,  jutting  insolently 
almost  against  the  river.  From  its  summit  six  or  seven 
states  can  be  seen  by  the  aid  of  field  glasses.  Upon 
part  of  the  summit  of  Lookout  Mountain,  as  upon 
Missionary  Ridge,  the  enemy  was  well  intrenched, 
Bragg  having  occupied  both  ranges  immediately  after 
Rosecrans  passed  them  by  in  his  retreat  from  Chick- 
amauga.  Between  the  Ridge  and  the  Mountain  is 
Orchard  Knob,  then  a  steep,  craggy  knoll,  100  feet 
high,  and  this  also  was  held  by  the  enemy.  Thus,  with 
a  force  of  40,000  or  50,000  men  Bragg  had  fortified 
the  east,  south,  and  west,  a  distance  of  twelve  miles, 
which  placed  the  little  city  in  the  valley  of  the  Cumber- 
land in  a  besieged  condition,  and  to  all  appearance,  at 
the  mercy  of  the  enemy. 

This  was  the  situation  of  affairs  on  the  arrival  of 


176  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTER7 

General  Grant,  October  23rd.  But  despite  his  physical 
exhaustion,  he  had  been  formulating  plans  for  some 
days  for  fighting  one  of  the  most  dramatic  and  pic- 
turesque battles  of  the  war.  There  was  something  in- 
spiring in  General  Grant's  masterly  organization  and 
command  of  the  army  at  Chattanooga.  He  was  not  only 
the  master  of  the  whole  field,  but  he  was  master  of  all 
his  powers.  He  brought  Sherman  and  his  troops  by  a 
forced  march  from  luka,  200  miles  away.  Instinctively 
he  knew  to  what  use  he  could  put  Sherman,  when  on  the 
15th  of  November  he  reached  the  north  side  of  the 
Tennessee  facing  Missionary  Ridge.  Hooker's  two 
corps,  the  Eleventh  and  Twelfth,  under  the  command 
of  Howard  and  Slocum  respectively,  were  transplanted 
from  the  Potomac  to  the  front  of  Lookout  Mountain, 
twelve  hundred  miles  in  seven  days,  and  formed  the 
right  wing  of  the  army  in  the  coming  battle.  Thomas 
was  in  the  center  with  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland. 
With  him  General  Grant  established  headquarters,  and 
from  this  position  he  commanded  the  movement  of  an 
army  of  60,000  which  confronted  the  enemy's  line  of 
twelve  miles. 

Bragg  was  so  well  fortified  at  every  point  in  front 
of  the  Union  forces  that  Jefferson  Davis,  standing  on 
the  heights  of  Lookout  Mountain  a  few  days  before  the 
battle,  beheld  with  a  feeling  of  pride  which  he  could 
not  conceal,  the  magnificent  scene  before  him.  He 
saw  the  Federal  army  at  his  feet,  as  it  were;  and  in 
his  mind  it  could  not  scale  the  Ridge  nor  the  Mountain, 


GHICKAMAUGA  IS  AVENGED  AT  CHATTANOOGA     177 

nor  pass  southward  between  them ;  and  turning  to  Bragg 
he  said  the  army  could  not  escape  capture  or  destruction. 
Looking  through  Confederate  glasses  it  certainly  seemed 
that  any  attempt  of  General  Grant  to  carry  the  Ridge 
and  Mountain  fortifications  would  result  in  an  over- 
whelming defeat. 

Whether  Bragg  was  encouraged  by  the  words  of 
Mr.  Davis  or  prompted  by  a  spirit  of  bluster  is  not 
material,  but  on  the  20th  of  November  he  sent  the  fol- 
lowing note  of  warning  to  General  Grant  under  a  flag 
of  truce :  "As  there  may  still  be  some  non-combatants 
in  Chattanooga,  I  deem  it  proper  to  notify  you  that 
prudence  would  dictate  their  early  withdrawal." 
General  Brown,  the  bearer  of  the  note,  was  confident 
enough  to  say  that  he  was  willing  and  ready  to  stake 
the  fate  of  the  Confederacy  on  the  single  battle  at 
Chattanooga,  and  in  this  statement  he  no  doubt  ex- 
pressed the  sentiment  of  Bragg.  But  this  was  as  sound- 
ing brass  to  General  Grant.  He  smiled  when  he  read  the 
note,  and  putting  it  in  his  pocket  without  making  any 
reply,  proceeded  with  a  plan  of  battle  which  would 
insure  the  safety  of  all  non-combatants  in  the  city. 

General  Grant  at  Chattanooga  is  a  study  of  special 
interest.  He  was  there  at  the  urgent  request  of  Presi- 
dent Lincoln  and  Secretary  Stanton.  In  fact,  he  was 
there  to  retrieve  the  "flood  of  ruin"  by  which  Bragg 
caused  the  right  wing  of  Rosecrans'  army  to  be  swept 
from  the  field  of  Chickamauga.  Perhaps  more  than  at 
any  other  time  thus  far  in  the  Civil  War,  the  eye  of 


178  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYkSTERY 

the  nation  was  focussed  upon  General  Grant.  His  re- 
sponsibility was  enormous.  The  difficulties  before  him 
seemed  almost  insurmountable.  Could  he  meet  the  ex- 
pectation of  the  people  and  the  government?  At 
Donelson,  his  forethought,  dash  and  courage  won  the 
first  decisive  battle  of  the  war.  At  Shiloh,  his  terrible 
will,  determined  purpose,  and  astonishing  physical  and 
mental  endurance  saved  his  army  from  defeat  on  Sun- 
day, which  made  victory  certain  on  Monday.  At 
Vicksburg,  his  genius,  strategy,  and  persistence  made 
the  siege  foremost  among  all  the  successful  operations 
of  the  kind  in  the  world's  history.  Could  he  forge  an- 
other link  to  the  chain  of  victories  by  winning  at 
Chattanooga?  Some  wonderful  generalship  must  be 
displayed  and  miraculous  fighting  done  to  save  his  army 
from  defeat,  and  the  nation  from  disappointment. 
Was  General  Grant  the  man  above  all  others  to  com- 
mand the  western  army  at  such  a  supreme  moment  ? 

The  battle  of  Chattanooga  began  on  Monday, 
November  23rd,  1863.  General  Grant's  station  was 
at  Fort  Wood,  a  short  distance  northward  from  Orchard 
Knob.  He  and  Thomas  made  a  reconnoissance,  and 
on  that  day  the  center  line,  of  which  Thomas  was  in 
command,  moved  forward,  and  without  much  loss  cap- 
tured Orchard  Knob  which  overlooked  the  enemy's 
rifle  pits,  and  from  this  point  General  Grant  directed 
the  battle  to  its  finish.  On  the  24th  Sherman,  upon 
whom  it  is  said  fell  the  weight  of  the  battle,  crossed  to 
the  south  side  of  the  Tennessee,  and  by  nightfall  had 


CH1CKAMAUGA  IS  AVENGED  AT  CHATTANOOGA     179 

taken  his  position  at  the  lower  edge  of  the  north  end  of 
Missionary  Ridge.  On  the  same  day  the  gallant 
Hooker  assaulted  the  west  side  of  the  lofty,  rugged,  and 
precipitous  Lookout  Mountain.  The  men  advanced 
steadily — not  much  in  order — but  with  a  determination 
to  reach  the  crest  of  Lookout.  Fog  covered  the  moun- 
tain part  of  the  day,  but  this  did  not  lessen  the  zeal  nor 
impede  the  progress  of  Hooker's  forces.  They  advanced 
courageously  up  the  deeply  furrowed  slope,  and  pushing 
through  misty  rain  and  dark  clouds,  by  nightfall  the 
Union  flag  was  carried  to  the  top  of  the  mountain.  The 
persistent  climbing  and  firing  of  Hooker's  men  started 
the  enemy  on  a  retreat.  Many  prisoners  were  taken,  and 
the  fifty  cannon  Rosecrans  lost  at  Chickamauga,  and 
twelve  pieces  beside,  were  captured.  It  was  a  unique 
battle,  and  little  wonder  that  Quartermaster  General 
Meigs,  who  witnessed  the  gallantry  of  the  mountain 
climbers  as  much  as  the  dense  fog  would  permit,  called 
it  "the  battle  above  the  clouds." 

The  wise  and  invincible  Sherman,  in  whom  General 
Grant's  confidence  was  never  misplaced,  had  a  hard 
task  before  him.  The  climbing  of  the  north  end  of 
Missionary  Ridge,  while  not  as  rough  as  the  west  side 
of  Lookout  Mountain,  was  nevertheless  difficult  because 
the  enemy  was  massing  all  his  available  forces  against 
him.  For  Bragg  to  lose  the  Ridge  was  to  lose  every- 
thing; therefore  the  hardest  pressing  Sherman  ever  had 
in  battle  was  at  Missionary  Ridge.  On  Tuesday,  the 
24th,  it  seemed  as  if  he  were  being  strained  beyond  the 


180  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

power  of  endurance  to  hold  his  own,  but  General  Grant's 
eye  was  on  Sherman,  and  to  make  his  position  secure  for 
the  day,  Howard,  with  his  Eleventh  corps,  was  dis- 
patched to  his  assistance. 

At  midnight  on  Tuesday,  after  giving  the  situation 
thorough  study,  General  Grant  began  to  issue  orders  for 
the  battle  on  Wednesday — the  fatal  day  to  Bragg. 
When  Hooker  secured  the  top  of  Lookout  Mountain, 
Bragg  withdrew  his  troops  during  the  night  and  formed 
a  new  line  on  Missionary  Ridge.  From  Orchard  Knob 
General  Grant  could  plainly  see  the  purpose  of  Bragg, 
which  was  to  mass  his  forces  against  Sherman.  The 
larger  part  of  Hooker's  men  being  no  longer  needed 
on  Lookout  Mountain  were  ordered  to  cross  Chattanooga 
Valley  and  join  the  right  of  the  Union  forces  in  a 
grand  assault  on  Missionary  Ridge,  but  the  loss  of  a 
bridge  on  which  Hooker  was  to  cross  Chattanooga  Creek 
delayed  him  three  hours. 

The  complex  plan  of  the  battle  which  General 
Grant  had  made,  had  thus  far  been  executed  with  re- 
markable exactness.  Every  movement  of  the  enemy 
had  been  closely  watched  from  Orchard  Knob.  His 
anxiety  was  increased  because  of  Hooker's  delay. 
Sherman  was  being  hard  pushed.  Column  after  column 
was  being  hurled  against  him.  The  overwhelming 
mass  of  Confederates  in  his  front,  and  the  concentrated 
fire  of  their  guns,  made  his  position  exceedingly  trying 
and  doubtful.  But  despite  all  this  Grant  was  holding 
his  own.  He  saw  clearly  what  was  going  on. 


CHICKAMAUOA  18  AVENGED  AT  CHATTANOOQA     181 

There  is  a  moment  in  every  great  battle  which  de- 
termines the  victory.  It  was  three  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon. General  Grant  could  no  longer  wait  for  Hooker. 
Bragg  had  done  what  the  General  expected  him  to  do — 
weakened  his  center  to  crush  Sherman.  It  was  time 
to  hurl  the  thunderbolt.  At  the  signal  of  six  guns, 
20,000  Union  men  moved  majestically  forward  to 
Missionary  Ridge.  The  lower  rifle  pits  of  the  enemy 
were  carried.  But  there  was  one  feature  of  General 
Grant's  magnificent  plan  in  fighting  the  battle  that  mis- 
carried. When  the  charge  had  been  made  on  the  pits, 
it  was  his  purpose  to  have  the  troops  reform  preparatory 
to  the  general  charge  up  the  Ridge.  But  when  the  pits 
were  captured  each  man  seemed  to  be  his  own  com- 
mander. Inspired  by  the  success  at  the  base  of  the 
Ridge  the  men  rushed  onward  without  order  in  the 
face  of  destructive  fire  from  the  enemy's  batteries. 
When  General  Grant  saw  this  marvellous  exhibition  of 
courage  and  determination  he  ordered  the  right  and  the 
left  to  move  forward.  Then  all  semblance  of  lines 
was  lost ;  each  of  the  brigades  was  broken  into  some  half 
a  dozen  groups  headed  by  a  flag,  and  everyone  struggling 
to  reach  the  summit.  Phil  Sheridan  commanded  a 
division,  and  while  storming  the  Ridge  his  horse  was 
shot;  and  according  to  tradition  the  General  mounted 
a  captured  cannon  to  give  him  elevation  that  he  might 
see  what  his  men  were  doing.  All  along  the  craggy 
slope  of  the  Ridge  was  a  hand-to-hand  conflict,  and  the 


182  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

roar  of  the  cannon  from  both  sides  added  to  the  ex- 
citement and  sublimity  of  the  hour. 

During  this  stirring  scene  Grant  and  Thomas  were 
standing  together  on  Orchard  Knob.  The  assaulting 
column  had  reached  half-way  to  the  summit  of 
Missionary  Ridge  when  a  portion  of  it  was  momentarily 
brought  to  a  halt.  The  stream  of  wounded  began  to 
retire  down  the  hill  which  made  the  broken  line  look 
ragged  and  weak.  "At  that  moment  Thomas  turned  to 
General  Grant,  and  in  a  voice  which  betrayed  the  emo- 
tion that  raged  within  him,  said :  'General,  I — I'm 
afraid  they  won't  get  up.'  Grant,  with  calmness,  gazed 
at  the  column,  and  then  brushing  the  ashes  from  the  end 
of  his  cigar,  said  quietly,  'Oh,  give  'em  time,  General,' 
and  then  as  coolly  returned  his  cigar  to  his  mouth.  The 
men  got  there." 

The  enemy  could  not  long  withstand  the  terrible 
assault  of  the  Union  forces,  and  finally  the  summit  of 
Missionary  Ridge,  extending  five  or  six  miles,  was 
reached.  The  only  course  left  open  to  Bragg  was  to 
retreat,  and  to  Dalton  he  fled,  not  only  in  disgust,  but 
in  grief,  with  his  army  broken  into  fragments,  and 
leaving  behind  him  6,500  prisoners,  47  pieces  of  can- 
non, and  7,000  muskets. 

General  Sherman's  account  of  his  own  persistent 
attacks  at  Missionary  Ridge  is  of  peculiar  interest,  be- 
cause it  forcibly  illustrates  one  quality  of  Grant's 
generalship — that  of  "continually  hammering  the 
enemy,"  as  he  himself  calls  it — and  which  made  him 


CHICKAMAVOA  IS  AVENGED  AT  CHATTANOOGA     183 

so  successful  in  winning  battles.  Once  Sherman  said 
to  General  James  F.  Rusling : 

"At  Chattanooga  I  was  ordered  to  attack  Bragg's 
right,  and  I  did  so  with  all  my  force,  but  soon  found  the 
ground  impassable,  and  was  repulsed.  I  was  ordered 
to  attack  again,  and  did  with  like  result ;  and  halted  for 
orders.  These  came,  'attack  again,'  and  I  thought  the 
old  man  daft  and  sent  a  staff  officer  to  inquire  if  there 
wasn't  a  mistake,  but  his  reply  was  'No!  Attack  as 
ordered !'  And  I  did,  vehemently ;  and  simultaneously, 
he  hurled  Thomas  and  Sheridan  against  Bragg's  center, 
piercing  and  crushing  it,  and  rolling  his  wings  both 
ways,  and  the  campaign  was  ended.  Now  what  Grant 
did  was  this;  by  my  attacks  so  often  on  my  left,  he 
made  Bragg  believe  our  main  attack  was  to  be  there,  and 
so  he  weakened  his  center  to  reinforce  his  right,  and 
when  Grant  'divined'  he  had  done  this  sufficiently,  he 
hurled  Thomas  forward  as  a  battering  ram  and  smashed 
him  completely.  It  was  a  great  victory — the  neatest 
and  cleanest  battle  I  was  ever  in,  and  Grant  deserves 
the  credit  of  it  all." 

Neither  the  spirit  of  boastfulness  nor  a  tone  of 
personal  triumph  was  ever  discernible  in  any  dispatch 
or  letter  written  by  General  Grant  announcing  a  great 
victory.  He  seemed  to  write  and  speak  as  if  his  sur- 
prising successes  came  in  the  natural  train  of  events. 
After  the  battle  of  Chattanooga  the  cheering  news  of 
the  result  was  contained  in  the  following  modest  dis- 
patch to  Washington:  "Although  the  battle  (on 


184  ORANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

Wednesday)  lasted  from  early  dawn  till  dark  this  even- 
ing, I  believe  I  am  not  premature  in  announcing  a  com- 
plete victory  over  Bragg.  Lookout  Mountain  top,  all 
the  rifle  pits  in  Chattanooga  Valley  and  on  Missionary 
Ridge  entire,  have  been  captured  and  are  now  held  by 
us." 

The  last  few  hours  of  the  battle  furnished  a  scene 
which,  for  grandeur,  was  never  before  beheld  on  this 
continent.  "The  whole  army  was  swept  onward  by  an 
irresistible  impulse."  The  victory  was  more  complete 
than  the  ablest  and  most  thoughtful  military  men  could 
hope  for.  And  Halleck — always  sparing  in  his  words 
of  commendation  of  General  Grant — was  so  warmed  up 
by  the  victory  as  to  say  that  considering  the  strength  of 
the  enemy's  position,  which  seemed  to  be  impregnable, 
and  the  difficulty  of  storming  his  intrenchments,  "the 
battle  of  Chattanooga  must  be  regarded  the  most  re- 
markable in  history." 

General  Grant  increased  in  strength  as  he  grew  in 
experience,  and  he  so  planned  and  fought  at  Chatta- 
nooga as  to  make  the  laurels  of  Shiloh  and  Vicksburg 
fade  in  the  splendor  of  the  achievement. 


XXV. 

PUBLIC  HONORS  COME  TO  GRANT  AFTER 
THE  BATTLES. 

HE  thundering  sound  of  cannon  and  the 
cheers  of  the  victorious  army  at  Chatta- 
nooga had  hardly  died  away  when  General 
Grant  sent  Sherman  to  Knoxville — eighty- 
four  miles  away — to  relieve  Burnside  who  was  besieged 
by  Longstreet  with  a  force  of  15,000  men.  Sherman 
acted  with  his  habitual  promptness,  and  his  cavalry 
reached  Burnside  on  the  3rd  of  December,  the  very  day 
on  which  the  last  ration  was  issued.  Longstreet  being 
driven  from  Tennessee,  retreated  into  Virginia  to  join 
the  forces  of  Lee. 

When  President  Lincoln  heard  that  Burnside — for 
whose  safety  he  had  much  solicitude — had  been  saved 
from  the  power  of  the  enemy,  he  sent  General  Grant  the 

following  dispatch  on  the  8th  of  December : 

"Understanding  that  your  lodgment  at  Knoxville  and  at 
Chattanooga  is  now  sure,  I  wish  to  tender  you,  and  all  under 


186  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

your  command,  my  more  than  thanks — my  profoundest  gratitude 
— for  the  skill,  courage,  and  perseverance  with  which  you  and 
they,  over  so  great  difficulties,  have  effected  that  important 
object.  God  bless  you  all." 

The  country  was  full  of  joy  over  the  victory  of 
Chattanooga.  Congress  adopted  a  resolution  of  thanks 
and  voted  that  a  gold  medal  be  struck  and  presented  to 
General  Grant  in  the  name  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  of  America.  Several  states  also  adopted  resolu- 
tions of  thanks ;  and  the  citizens  of  Jo  Daviess  county, 
Illinois,  of  which  Galena  was  the  General's  home  town, 
presented  to  him  a  diamond  hilted  sword,  afterwards 
known  as  the  "Chattanooga  sword."  The  scabbard  is 
of  gold,  and  bears  the  names  of  all  the  battles  which 
Grant  had  fought  up  to  that  time. 

During  the  latter  part  of  January,  1864,  the 
General  obtained  a  leave  of  absence  for  the  purpose  of 
visiting  his  son  Frederick,  who  lay  dangerously  ill  at 
St.  Louis.  "Fred"  was  the  eldest  son,  who,  at  thirteen 
accompanied  his  father  on  the  Vicksburg  campaign  and 
displayed  remarkable  soldierly  qualities  at  that  time, 
particularly  at  the  bloody  battle  of  Champion's  Hill. 
The  boy  rode  a  horse,  and,  like  his  father,  was  un- 
terrified  by  the  volley  of  bullets  or  the  roar  of  cannon. 
While  on  this  visit  to  his  son,  the  General  was  requested 
by  the  War  Department  to  keep  his  headquarters  with 
him,  and  whether  in  the  sickroom,  or  at  the  hotel,  or  in 
the  banquet  hall,  he  kept  his  mind  on  all  matters  per- 
taining to  his  army,  and  was  able  to  hold  communica- 


PUBLIC  HONORS  COME  AFTER  THE  BATTLES       187 

tion  with  his  commanders  with  as  much  readiness  as  if 
he  were  at  his  new  headquarters  at  Nashville. 

Frederick's  condition  was  greatly  improved  during 
his  father's  brief  visit ;  but  as  to  what  occurred  before 
the  General  returned  to  Nashville  the  Memoirs  are 
silent.  No  matter  whether  he  was  in  the  midst  of  a 
great  campaign  or  at  a  function  given  in  his  honor,  the 
General  could  not  lay  aside  his  extreme  modesty.  The 
name  of  "U.  S.  Grant,  Nashville,"  on  the  Lindell  Hotel 
register  was  sufficient  to  spread  the  news  of  his  presence 
with  almost  the  rapidity  of  wildfire  throughout  the 
city.  The  Lindell  lobby  was  soon  thronged  with  people 
eager  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  little  man  who  had  won 
the  battle  of  Chattanooga.  The  streets  which  he  paced 
in  vain,  time  and  again,  only  five  years  before  in  search 
of  employment,  now  resounded  with  cheers  in  his  honor. 

On  Friday  evening,  January  29th,  General  Grant 
was  honored  by  an  enthusiastic  populace  with  a  sere- 
nade. When  he  appeared  on  the  balcony  of  the  hotel 
he  was  greeted  with  tremendous  applause.  Taking  off 
his  hat  and  bowing,  a  profound  silence  reigned.  It  was 
supposed  that  he  would  say  something  about  the  drama- 
tic battle  at  Chattanooga,  and  the  vast  multitude  was 
eager  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  little  man  who  had  won 
"I  thank  you  for  this  honor.  I  cannot  make  a  speech. 
It  is  something  I  have  never  done  and  never  intend  to 
do,  and  I  beg  you  excuse  me."  He  then  took  a  cigar 
from  his  pocket,  and  lighting  it  in  the  presence  of  the 
great  throng,  he  smoked  his  Havana  with  as  much 


188  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

modesty  as  if  it  were  only  one  of  the  common  lot  who 
had  assembled  to  witness  the  beautiful  pyrotechnic  dis- 
play. Cheer  after  cheer  being  given  him,  Judge  Lord 
placed  his  hand  on  the  General's  shoulder  and  said: 
"Tell  them  you  can  fight  for  them  but  can't  talk  for 
them."  But  the  General  modestly  answered:  "I  will 
have  to  get  someone  else  to  say  that  for  me" ;  and  with 
that  remark  he  retired  from  the  scene. 

The  county  and  city  which,  a  few  years  before,  re- 
fused to  give  him  the  office  of  engineer,  now  tendered 
him  a  banquet  which  was  given  on  the  same  evening  on 
which  occurred  the  public  demonstration  at  the  Lindell 
Hotel.  Most  of  the  two  hundred  persons  present  had 
never  seen  General  Grant,  and  it  is  small  wonder  that 
they  gazed  upon  him  with  surprised  curiosity.  He  had 
not  the  appearance  of  a  great  general,  or  of  a  dis- 
tinguished person  in  any  calling.  His  clothes  were  of 
the  ordinary  kind,  and  altogether  he  appeared  like  a 
very  ordinary  man.  The  applause  showered  upon  him 
was  extremely  embarrassing  to  one  of  his  retiring 
nature;  and  when  he  was  called  upon  for  a  speech  he 
blushingly  said:  "Gentlemen,  it  is  impossible  for  me 
to  do  more  than  thank  you."  In  the  course  of  the 
dinner  he  turned  his  glass,  took  a  cigar,  lit  it  in  his 
peculiar  way,  and  began  to  smoke,  and  the  exceeding 
simplicity  of  the  act  brought  laughter  and  cheers  from 
the  company. 

The  Common  Council  of  the  city  prepared  resolu- 
tions to  be  presented  to  the  General  in  the  preamble  of 


PUBLIC  HONORS  COME  AFTER  THE  BATTLES       189 

which  is  this  sentence:  "This  body  testify  their  great 
esteem,  regard,  and  indebtedness,  due  his  modest,  un- 
swerving energies,  swayed  neither  by  the  mighty  suc- 
cesses which  have  crowned  his  genius  and  efforts  in  be- 
half of  the  government,  nor  the  machinations  of  poli- 
ticians— evidences  of  the  true  patriot  and  soldier." 

After  General  Grant's  return  to  Nashville  he  kept 
himself  busy  in  making  tours  of  inspection,  and  giving 
directions  to  his  generals  pertaining  to  the  movements 
of  the  various  commands  in  the  West.  His  ceaseless 
activity,  and  the  ease  with  which  he  was  able  to  grasp 
the  situation  of  affairs  in  all  its  details,  were  a  constant 
surprise  to  the  army  and  the  government.  He  seemed 
never  to  lack  resources,  and  was  always  able  to  do  the 
right  thing  at  the  right  time,  and  in  the  issuing  of 
orders  and  making  reports.  While  these  documents 
were  sent  out  by  the  hundreds  in  every  campaign,  he 
wrote  most  of  them  himself,  and  General  Sherman  says 
he  had  as  many  as  one  hundred  and  fifty,  every  one  of 
which  was  in  General  Grant's  hand-writing. 


XXVI. 

GRANT  COMMANDS  THE  ARMIES  OF  THE 
UNION. 

HE  phenomenal  achievement  of  General 
Grant  at  Chattanooga  was  further  proof  of 
his  consummate  genius  as  a  military  leader. 
It  is  only  by  reviewing  the  unbroken  series 
of  great  successes  up  to  the  time  of  his  crowning  victory, 
and  considering  their  cumulative  effect,  that  one  can 
get  any  adequate  conception  of  his  greatness  as  a  com- 
mander. He  had  met  all  the  leading  Confederate 
generals  in  the  West  and  vanquished  them.  Buckner 
was  made  to  surrender  at  Donelson.  Albert  Sidney 
Johnston  lost  his  life  at  Shiloh  in  the  vain  attempt  to 
drive  General  Grant  away  from  the  Tennessee  river. 
Beauregard  despaired  on  Sunday  of  being  able  to 
capture  Pittsburg  Landing,  and  on  Monday  the  Con- 
federate commander  fled  in  disappointment  to  Corinth. 
Joseph  E.  Johnston  was  forced  to  retreat  from  Jackson 


GRANT  COMMANDS  THE  ARMIES  OF  THE  UNION     191 

before  the  vigorous  advance  of  General  Grant's  army. 
Pemberton  was  defeated  at  Champion's  Hill  and  the 
Big  Black,  and  finally  made  to  surrender  his  army  at 
Vicksburg.  Bragg  met  with  overwhelming  disaster  at 
Chattanooga,  and  this  ill-fortune  to  the  Confederate 
chief  compelled  Longstreet  to  withdraw  his  forces  from 
Tennessee  and  take  refuge  in  Virginia. 

No  Union  successes  like  these  had  been  won  in  the 
East.  Five  generals — McClellan,  Pope,  Burnside, 
Hooker,  Meade — had  each  been  in  command  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  at  different  times  during  the 
three  previous  years,  and  although  they  had  consumed 
an  army  of  139,000  men  (15,172  killed,  74,635  wound- 
ed, and  49,944  missing)  no  permanent  advantage  had 
been  gained.  While  the  field  at  Gettysburg  had  been 
carried  by  Meade,  it  was  a  sore  disappointment  to  the 
Administration  and  a  great  misfortune  to  the  cause  of 
the  Union  that  Lee  was  allowed  to  retreat  in  good  order 
across  the  Potomac,  where  he  could  still  make  it  neces- 
sary to  sacrifice  many  thousand  lives  before  the  Union 
forces  could  break  his  army  in  pieces.  Contrasting 
what  had  been  done  in  the  West  with  what  had  not  been 
done  in  the  East,  led  the  Administration  to  think  of 
General  Grant  in  connection  with  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  and  more  particularly  with  all  the  armies  of 
the  Union.  It  did  seem  to  Lincoln  and  Stanton,  and 
finally  to  Halleck,  that  General  Grant  was  the  one  and 
only  hope  of  the  nation. 

Referring  more  particularly  to  General  Grant's  call 


192  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

to  the  Potomac,  Colonel  Henderson,  of  the  British 
army,  says  in  the  Science  of  War:  "The  Federal 
strategy  in  the  last  year  of  the  war,  with  Grant  in  com- 
mand and  Sherman  his  lieutenant,  stands  out  in  marked 
relief  to  the  disjointed,  partial,  and  complicated  opera- 
tions of  the  previous  years  ....  Grant  seems 
to  have  been  the  first  to  recognize  that,  as  von  Moltke 
puts  it,  the  time  objective  of  a  campaign  is  the  defeat 
of  the  enemy's  main  army  ....  General 
Sheridan's  summing  up  of  the  handling  of  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac,  before  Grant  took  command,  is  to  the 
point :  "The  army  was  all  right ;  the  trouble  was  that  the 
commanders  never  went  out  to  lick  anybody,  but  always 
thought  first  of  keeping  from  getting  licked.'  Grant, 
like  Moltke,  was  always  ready  to  try  conclusions." 

On  the  29th  of  February,  1864,  Congress  revived 
the  grade  of  Lieutenant  General,  which  had  been  held 
by  Washington  from  1798  to  the  time  of  his  death  in 
December,  1799.  General  Winfield  Scott  held  the  rank 
only  by  brevet,  from  1855  to  his  death  in  1866.  No 
name  was  mentioned  in  the  act  of  1864,  but  it  was 
understood  by  everybody  that  it  meant  the  promotion 
of  General  Grant.  Lincoln  nominated  him  for  Lieu- 
tenant General  on  the  1st  of  March,  and  the  nomination 
was  confirmed  on  the  following  day.  On  Thursday, 
March  3d,  General  Grant,  then  being  in  Nashville,  re- 
ceived orders  from  the  President  to  report  to  Washing- 
ton. 

At  five  o'clock  on  Tuesday  afternoon,  March  8th, 


GENERAL   GRANT. 

FROM  A  RARE  PHOTOGRAPH  TAKEN  AT  THE  WAR  DEPARTMENT 
A  FEW  HOURS  AFTER  HE  RECEIVED  HIS  COMMISSION- 
AS  LIEUTENANT  GENERAL. 

[From   a  Defective  Negative,   Never  Before  Published, 
Loaned   by   Walter  Kempster,   M.D.] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

FROM  A  PHOTOGRAPH  TAKEN  AT  THE  SAME  TIME  AND  PLACE 
AS  THAT  OP  GENERAL  GRANT  ON  THE  PRECEDING  PAGE. 


GRANT  COMMANDS  THE  ARMIES  OF  THE  UNION     193 

an  officer  who  was  modestly  attired  was  seen  leading 
a  fourteen  year  old  boy  by  the  hand  into  Willard's 
hotel.  Without  speaking  to  any  one,  or  paying  any 
attention  to  the  throng  in  the  lobby,  he  registered  as 
"U.  S.  Grant  and  son,  Galena,  Illinois."  Then  quietly 
and  modestly  he  entered  the  dining  room  and  took  a 
seat  at  the  table.  He  was  not  recognized  by  any  one 
when  he  registered ;  but  he  had  been  at  the  table  only  a 
few  minutes  when  a  gentleman  from  New  Orleans  rec- 
ognized him,  and  rising  from  his  seat,  cordially  shook 
hands  with  the  General.  In  a  flash,  as  by  electric 
communication,  the  news  that  General  Grant  was  in  the 
room  spread  through  the  hotel,  and  hundreds  of  guests, 
Senators,  Representatives,  Supreme  Court  Judges, 
officers  of  the  army,  sprang  from  their  seats  and  cheered 
in  a  tremendous  manner,  and  crowded  around  the  blush- 
ing, confused  object  of  this  sudden  ovation.  When  his 
meal  was  finished  he  left  the  room,  only  to  encounter  an- 
other throng  of  enthusiastic  admirers  who  awaited  him 
in  the  lower  hall.  The  first  time  the  General  ever  made 
a  retreat  from  a  superior  force  was  when  he  made  his 
way  up  the  staircase  into  his  own  room. 

In  the  evening  of  the  same  day  General  Grant 
visited  the  White  House  in  company  with  Secretary 
Seward  and  several  military  friends,  the  special  occa- 
sion being  the  President's  levee.  Some  features  of  the 
event  were  more  striking  than  had  ever  been  witnessed 
in  the  East  Room.  The  General  entered  the  room  un- 
announced, and  was  greatly  embarrassed.  Although 


194  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

Lincoln  and  he  had  never  met  before,  the  President 
recognized  him  almost  instantly,  and  a  most  loving 
greeting  followed.  The  meeting  of  the  two  greatest 
men  in  the  Nation  was  a  scene  difficult  to  describe. 
General  Grant  was  literally  lifted  up  for  a  while,  and 
in  obedience  to  an  urgent  demand  of  the  throng  for  a 
larger  view  of  the  hero,  Secretary  Seward  was  assisted 
in  mounting  him  upon  a  sofa.  Never  before  was  there 
such  a  coat-tearing  jam  in  the  White  House,  and  the 
General  seemed  to  wonder  what  it  was  all  about. 

John  G.  Nicolay,  private  secretary  to  the  President, 
made  personal  memoranda  of  what  transpired  in  the 
small  drawing-room  after  the  departure  of  the  crowd. 
The  President  made  an  appointment  with  the  General 
for  the  formal  presentation  the  next  day  of  his  commis- 
sion as  Lieutenant  General.  "I  shall  make  a  very  short 
speech  to  you,"  said  Lincoln,  "to  which  I  desire  you  to 
reply  for  an  object ;  and  that  you  may  be  properly  pre- 
pared to  do  so,  I  have  written  what  I  shall  say,  only 
four  sentences  in  all,  which  I  will  read  from  manuscript 
as  an  example  which  you  may  follow  and  also  read  your 
reply,  as  you  are  perhaps  not  so  much  accustomed  to 
public  speaking  as  I  am ;  and  I  therefore  give  you  what 
I  shall  say  so  that  you  may  consider  it.  There  are  two 
points  that  I  would  like  to  have  you  make  in  your  an- 
swer: First,  to  say  something  which  will  prevent  or 
obviate  any  jealousy  of  you  from  any  of  the  other  gen- 
erals in  the  service ;  and  second,  something  which  shall 
put  you  on  as  good  terms  as  possible  with  the  Army  of 


GRAXT  COMMANDS  THE  ARMIES  OF  THE  UXIOy     195 

the  Potomac.  If  you  see  any  objection  to  doing  this, 
be  under  no  restraint  whatever  in  expressing  that  objec- 
tion to  the  Secretary  of  War." 

When  the  General  escaped  from  the  height  of  the 
sofa  in  the  East  Room,  where  he  had  been  sandwiched 
between  two  heads  of  departments  for  exhibition,  and 
got  out  of  doors,  he  declared  that  he  had  quite  enough 
of  that  kind  of  business ;  and,  repairing  to  the  hotel,  he 
declined  in  quick  succession  a  public  dinner  in  New 
York,  a  reception  on  the  floor  of  Congress,  and  a  review 
of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 

One  o'clock,  Wednesday  afternoon,  March  9th,  was 
the  hour  fixed  for  the  presentation  of  the  commission 
of  Lieutenant-General.  An  event  of  that  kind  had  not 
been  witnessed  since  the  days  of  Washington.  There 
were  present,  besides  Lincoln  and  Grant,  all  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Cabinet,  and  Halleck,  Representative  Owen 
Lovejoy  of  Illinois,  General  Rawlins  and  Colonel  Corn- 
stock  of  Grant's  staff,  Frederick,  the  fourteen-year-old 
son  of  the  General,  now  Major-General  of  the  United 
States  Army,  and  Private  Secretary  Xicolay. 

When  the  General  had  been  presented  to  the  Cabi- 
net, the  President  approached  him  and  said :  "General 
Grant,  as  the  Nation's  appreciation  of  what  you  have 
done,  and  its  reliance  upon  you  for  what  remains  to  be 
done  in  the  existing  great  struggle,  you  are  now  pre- 
sented with  this  commission,  constituting  you  Lien- 
tenant-General  in  the  Army  of  the  United  States.  With 
this  high  honor  devolves  upon  you  also  a  corresponding 


196  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

responsibility.  As  the  country  herein  trusts  you,  so, 
under  God,  it  will  sustain  you.  I  scarcely  need  to  add 
that  with  what  I  here  speak  for  the  Nation,  goes  my 
own  hearty  personal  concurrence." 

One  of  the  bravest  acts  of  General  Grant's  life  was 
in  preparing  his  reply  to  suit  himself.  Hurriedly,  and 
almost  in  an  illegible  form,  he  had  written  his  speech 
on  a  half  sheet  of  note  paper  with  a  lead  pencil.  And 
when  the  moment  came  to  respond  to  the  President,  his 
embarrassment  was  great.  His  voice  was  somewhat 
tremulous  and  he  found  his  own  writing  difficult  to 
read,  but  what  he  said  could  hardly  have  been  im- 
proved :  "Mr.  President,  I  accept  the  commission  with 
gratitude  for  the  high  honor  conferred.  With  the  aid 
of  the  noble  armies  that  have  fought  on  so  many  fields 
for  our  common  country,  it  will  be  my  earnest  endeavor 
not  to  disappoint  your  expectations.  I  feel  the  full 
weight  of  the  responsibilities  now  devolving  on  me; 
and  I  know  that  if  they  are  all  met,  it  will  be  due  to 
those  armies,  and  above  all,  to  the  favor  of  that  Provi- 
dence which  leads  both  nations  and  men."* 

There  is  something  unspeakably  magnificent  in  the 
courage  and  independence  of  the  man  who  stood  before 
the  President  of  the  United  States  to  receive  the  high- 
est military  rank  in  the  world,  and  to  say  "No"  to  his 


*  Grant  once  wrote  to  Mr.  E.  B.  Washburne :  "Nothing  ever  fell 
over  me  like  a  wet  blanket  so  much  as  my  promotion  to  the  lleuten- 
ant-generalcy.  As  junior  major-general  In  the  regular  army  I  thought 
my  chances  good  for  being  placed  in  command  of  the  Pacific  Division 
when  the  war  closed." 


GRANT  COMMANDS  THE  ARMIES  OF  THE  UNION     197 

suggestion  regarding  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  and  its 
generals.  Mr.  Nicolay,  in  calling  attention  to  the  fact 
that  Grant  made  no  response  whatever  to  the  subject 
of  the  President's  request  of  the  night  previous,  says: 
"It  is  not  known  whether  he  did  this  after  a  consulta- 
tion with  Stanton,  or  whether,  with  his  deeper  distrust 
of  Washington  politicians,  he  thought  it  wise  to  begin 
by  disregarding  all  their  suggestions." 

The  General  did  not  leave  behind  him  one  word 
which  explains  his  conduct.  We  may  surmise  his  de- 
termined purpose,  but  we  can  go  no  further.  To  Lin- 
coln his  reference  to  the  army  in  the  East  and  its  com- 
manders was  of  vital  importance,  but  it  will  be  shown 
further  on  that  Grant  wanted  but  little  to  do  with 
Washington  and  its  influences  during  his  command  of 
the  army,  and  in  totally  ignoring  the  President's  wish, 
he  displayed  the  same  exalted  courage  and  sublime 
audacity  which  had  made  him  so  successful  in  his  west- 
ern campaigns. 

On  the  following  day,  March  9th,  Grant  went  to 
Brandy  Station — 70  miles  from  Washington — to  the 
headquarters  of  General  Meade,  then  commanding  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  whom  he  had  not  seen  since  the 
Mexican  War.  Upon  his  return  to  Washington,  Grant 
made  preparations  to  leave  immediately  for  the  West, 
but  at  the  close  of  a  consultation  with  the  President  and 
the  Secretary  of  War,  he  was  informed  that  Mrs.  Lin- 
coln expected  his  presence  the  same  evening  at  a  mili- 
tary dinner  to  be  given  in  his  honor,  at  which  twelve 


198  URAXT,  THE  MAX  OF  MYSTERY 

distinguished  officers,  then  in  the  city,  were  to  be  pres- 
ent. Frank  B.  Carpenter,  who  was  then  at  the  White 
House,  working  on  his  celebrated  painting,  "Lincoln 
and  his  Cabinet,"  says  Grant  turned  to  the  President 
and  said  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  him  to  remain 
over  as  he  must  be  in  Tennessee  at  a  given  time.  The 
President  insisted  that  he  could  not  be  excused,  and 
here  we  have  another  manifestation  of  Grant's  inde- 
pendence and  will-power.  He  said  to  Lincoln:  ''But 
the  time  is  very  precious  just  now,  and  really,  Mr. 
President,  I  believe  I  have  had  enough  of  this  'show 
business.' ' 

So  while  the  man  of  deeds — indifferent  to  blandish- 
ments and  caring  nothing  for  receptions— was  speed- 
ing on  his  way  to  Nashville  to  meet  Sherman  and  talk 
over  the  momentous  business  of  trying  to  end  the  war, 
the  twelve  "distinguished"  officers  were  banqueted 
without  a  guest  of  honor.  But  perhaps  in  the  feasting 
and  the  merry-making  of  the  night,  they  could  not  but 
ponder  over  the  strange  things  which  had  come  to  pass 
that  day :  a  general  so  devoted  to  his  duties  in  the  field 
as  to  have  no  time  or  desire  to  be  received  by  Congress 
or  banqueted  by  the  wife  of  the  President ;  a  man  who 
I  had  been  out  of  the  position  of  a  common  store-clerk 
I  hardly  three  years,  given  command  of  all  the  Union 
I  forces  on  land  and  sea;  a  great  load  lifted  from  the 
long-burdened  heart  of  Lincoln ;  the  bells  of  time  ring- 
ing in  a  better  day  for  the  cause  of  the  Union. 

When    the    enormous    responsibility    of    directing 


GRANT  COMMANDS  THE  ARMIES  OF  THE  UNION     199 

600,000  men  in  the  armies  of  the  Union,  and  600  war- 
ships was  laid  upon  Grant,  the  eye  of  the  civilized 
world  was  fixed  upon  him.  He  was  to  engage  in  a  des- 
perate contest  with  the  splendid  army  of  northern  Vir- 
ginia, commanded  by  Robert  E.  Lee.  Many  were  in 
doubt  as  to  the  result.  But  there  were  two  men  whose 
faith  in  final  victory  was  as  fixed  as  the  foundation  of 
the  hills — Lincoln  and  Grant.  Each  believed  in  the 
other.  Lincoln  liked  Grant  from  the  first  because  he 
was  always  honest  with  the  administration.  Grant 
could  no  more  be  stampeded  by  the  danger  of  meeting 
Lee  in  the  East  tha£  he  had  been  in  meeting  Johnston, 
Beauregard,  Pemberton,  or  Bragg  in  the  West ;  neither 
could  he  be  compromised  by  flattery. 


XXVII. 
PREPARING  TO  FIGHT  LEE. 

KANT  reached  Nashville  on  the  14th  of 
March,  and  met  Sherman  on  the  17th. 
On  the  12th  of  the  month,  at  the  special 
request  of  Grant,  Sherman  was  placed  in 
command  of  the  Military  Division  of  the  Mississippi, 
a  position  held  by  the  former  at  the  time  he  was  as- 
signed to  the  command  of  all  the  armies ;  and  McPher- 
son,  to  whom  Grant  showed  a  marked  affection,  suc- 
ceeded Sherman  as  commander  of  the  Department  of 
the  Tennessee. 

The  relation  between  Grant  and  Sherman  was  pe- 
culiarly touching.  The  warm  and  generous  friendship 
existing  between  them  was  without  parallel  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  American  army.  In  many  points  they  were 
dissimilar.  But  in  all  essential  things  they  were  one. 
They  were  patriotic,  unselfish,  and  in  honor  preferring 
one  another;  each  had  the  courage  and  ability  to  fight, 


PREPARING  TO  FIGHT  LEE  201 

and  in  all  their  operations  they  were  without  personal 
ambition  or  politics.  But  their  love  and  friendship 
and  confidence  in  each  other  can  be  better  illustrated 
by  reference  to  two  charming  letters  which  passed  be- 
tween them  at  the  time  of  Grant's  promotion  to  the 
command  of  the  armies. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  while  at  Nashville,  preparing 
to  go  to  Washington,  Grant  wrote  a  letter  to  Sherman, 
who  was  then  near  Memphis,  in  which  he  said : 

"I  start  in  the  morning  .  .  .  but  I  shall  say  very  dis- 
tinctly on  my  arrival  there  that  I  shall  accept  no  appointment 
which  will  require  me  to  make  that  city  my  headquarters.  .  .  >. 
While  I  have  been  eminently  successful  in  this  war,  in  at  least 
gaining  the  confidence  of  the  public,  no  one  feels  more  than  I 
how  much  of  this  success  is  due  to  the  energy,  skill,  and  the 
harmonious  putting  forth  of  that  energy  and  skill,  of  those  whom 
it  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  have  occupying  subordinate  posi- 
tions under  me.  .  .  .  But  what  I  want  is  to  express  my 
thanks  to  you  and  McPherson  as  the  men  to  whom,  above  all 
others,  I  feel  indebted  for  whatever  I  have  had  of  success.  How 
far  your  advice  and  suggestions  have  been  of  assistance  you  know. 
How  far  your  execution  of  whatever  has  been  given  you  to  do 
entitles  you  to  the  reward  I  am  now  receiving  you  cannot  know 
as  well  as  I  do.  I  feel  all  the  gratitude  this  letter  would  express, 
giving  it  the  most  flattering  construction.  .  .  ." 

It  has  been  said  that  Grant  could  not  write  in  this 
strain  to  anyone  else  in  the  world.  Elsewhere  in  the 
history  of  war  is  not  found  so  beautiful  a  letter  as  this 
written  to  a  subordinate.  He  almost  apologizes  to 
Sherman  for  accepting  a  promotion  and  an  honor  which 
he  cannot  in  full  measure  share.  And  Sherman,  on 
the  10th  of  the  month,  wrote  an  answer  which,  in  noble 


202  GRAXT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

generosity,  almost  rivals  Grant's.  A  finer  or  j lister 
characterization  of  Grant  has  never  been  written.  It 
is  the  heart  expression  of  the  one  commander  above  all 
others,  whose  confidence  in,  and  whose  affection  for, 
Grant  never  changed  from  the  time  he  compelled  Donel- 
son  to  surrender  to  his  promotion  to  commander-in- 
chief : 

"You  do  yourself  injustice  and  us  too  much  honor  in  assign- 
ing to  us  so  large  a  share  of  the  merits  which  have  led  to  your 
high  advancement.  You  are  now  Washington's  legitimate  suc- 
cessor, and  occupy  a  position  of  almost  dangerous  elevation;  but 
if  you  can  continue  as  heretofore  to  be  yourself,  simple,  honest, 
and  unpretending,  you  will  enjoy  through  life  the  respect  and 
love  of  friends,  and  the  homage  of  millions  of  human  beings. 
.  .  .  I  repeat,  you  do  General  McPherson  and  myself  too  much 
honor.  At  Belmont  you  manifested  your  traits,  neither  of  us 
being  near;  at  Donelson  also  you  illustrated  your  whole  charac- 
ter. I  was  not  near,  and  General  McPherson  in  too  subordinate 
capacity  to  influence  you.  ...  I  believe  you  are  as  brave, 
patriotic,  and  just  as  the  great  prototype,  Washington;  as  honest, 
unselfish,  and  kindhearted  as  a  man  should  be;  but  the  chief 
characteristic  in  your  nature  is  the  simple  faith  in  success  you 
have  always  manifested,  which  I  can  liken  to  nothing  else  than 
the  faith  a  Christian  has  in  his  Saviour.  This  faith  gave  you 
victory  at  Shiloh  and  Vicksburg.  Also,  when  you  have  completed 
your  best  preparations,  you  go  into  battle  without  hesitation,  as 
at  Chattanooga — no  doubts,  no  reserve;  and  I  tell  you  that  it 
was  this  that  made  us  act  with  confidence.  I  knew,  wherever  I 
was,  that  you  thought  of  me,  and  if  I  got  in  a  tight  place  you 
would  come  if  alive.  .  .  . 

"Now  as  to  the  future.  Do  not  stay  in  Washington.  Hal- 
leek  is  better  qualified  than  you  to  stand  the  buffets  of  intrigue 
and  policy.  Come  out  West;  take  to  yourself  the  whole  Missis- 
sippi Valley.  Let  us  make  it  dead  sure,  and  I  tell  you  the 
Atlantic  slope  and  the  Pacific  shores  will  follow  its  destiny,  as 


PREPARING  TO  FIGHT  LEE  203 

sure  as  the  limbs  of  a  tree  live  or  die  with  the  main  trunk. 
.  .  .  For  God's  sake  and  for  your  country's  sake,  come  out  of 
Washington.  I  foretold  to  Halleck  before  he  left  Corinth  the 
inevitable  result  to  him,  and  now  I  exhort  you  to  come  out 
West.  .  .  ." 

When  Sherman  met  Grant  at  Nashville,  the  greet- 
ing he  gave  him  was  this :  "I  cannot  congratulate  you 
on  your  promotion ;  the  responsibility  is  too  great." 
But  Grant  answered  not  a  word,  and  "kept  on  smoking." 
Matters  pertaining  to  the  movements  of  the  great  armies 
were  discussed  during  the  two  or  three  days  the  two 
commanders  were  at  Nashville,  and  as  Grant  was  in 
haste  to  return  to  the  Potomac,  they  rode  together  as  far 
as  Cincinnati,  and  in  the  spirit  of  tenderly  affectioned 
brothers,  they  talked  over  campaign  plans,  and  then 
parted,  not  to  meet  again  until  a  few  days  before  the 
saving  of  the  Union  was  accomplished. 

Grant  arrived  in  Washington  on  the  23d  of  March, 
and  without  delay  held  a  conference  with  the  Presi- 
dent and  the  Secretary  of  War.  A  story  is  told  by 
Colonel  William  Conant  Church  of  the  Army  and  Navy 
Journal,  which  illustrates  how  unshaken  was  the  Presi- 
dent's confidence  in  Grant's  ability  to  march  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  against  the  Army  of  Northern  Vir- 
ginia and  capture  the  stronghold  of  the  rebellion.  The 
incident  took  place  just  before  Grant  established  his 
headquarters  in  the  field.  When  he  called  upon  the 
Secretary  of  War,  the  latter  said : 

"Well,  General,  I  suppose  you  have  left  us  enough 
men  to  garrison  the  forts  strongly." 


204  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

"~No,  I  can't  do  that,"  was  the  General's  quiet  reply. 

"Why  not  ?  Why  not  ?"  repeated  the  nervous  Sec- 
retary. 

"Because  I  have  already  sent  the  men  to  the  front, 
where  they  are  needed  more  than  in  Washington." 

"That  won't  do,"  said  Stanton.  "It's  contrary  to 
my  plans.  I  will  order  the  men  back." 

Grant  maintained  a  quiet  determination,  and  re- 
plied : 

"I  shall  need  the  men  there,  and  you  cannot  order 
them  back." 

"Why  not  ?    Why  not  ?"  cried  the  Secretary. 

"I  believe  I  rank  the  Secretary  of  War  in  this  mat- 
ter," remarked  Grant. 

"Very  well,  we  will  see  the  President,"  sharply  re- 
sponded the  Secretary. 

"That's  right;  he  ranks  us  both." 

Going  to  the  President,  Secretary  Stanton,  turning 
to  Grant,  said: 

"General,  state  your  case." 

But  the  General  calmly  replied: 

"I  have  no  case  to  state.     I  am  satisfied  as  it  is." 

When  Stanton  had  given  his  view  of  the  matter, 
Lincoln  crossed  his  legs,  leaned  back  in  his  chair,  and 
like  the  wise  philosopher  that  he  was,  said : 

"Now,  Mr.  Secretary,  you  know  we  have  been  try- 
ing to  manage  this  army  for  nearly  three  years,  and  you 
know  we  haven't  done  much  with  it.  We  sent  over  the 


PREPARING  TO  F10HT  LEE  205 

mountains  and  brought  Mr.  Grant,  as  Mrs.  Grant  calls 
him,  to  manage  it  for  us,  and  now  I  guess  we'd  better 
let  Mr.  Grant  have  his  own  way." 

After  Grant  had  explained  to  the  President  some 
features  of  the  proposed  campaign  in  Virginia,  the  lat- 
ter said  to  a  friend  in  Baltimore:  "When  I  listen  to 
him  explaining  his  plans  and  purposes  in  the  coming 
campaign,  I  am  appalled  at  their  magnitude  and  as- 
tounded at  the  confidence  he  seems  to  feel  in  his  ability 
to  accomplish  them." 

The  strange  man  from  the  West — a  stranger  to 
Washington  and  to  nearly  every  public  man  and  mili- 
tary leader  in  the  East — was  never  more  mysterious 
than  when  he  planned  the  Virginia  campaign.  What 
his  plans  were  he  did  not  give  in  detail  to  the  War 
Office.  He  did  not  even  whisper  all  of  them  in  the  ear 
of  the  President.  But  the  President  did  not  mind 
this  omission.  He  believed  in  Grant  and  desired  that 
he  should  have  his  own  way;  and  Grant's  faith  in  his 
own  purposes  was  so  strongly  rooted  that  just  before 
the  forward  movement  began  he  said:  "I  feel  as  cer- 
tain of  crushing  Lee  as  I  do  of  dying." 

The  battleground  on  which  the  fate  of  the  Confed- 
eracy was  to  be  decided  embraced  a  strip  of  the  State 
of  Virginia  extending  about  one  hundred  miles  south 
from  Washington,  and  varying  from  forty  to  sixty  miles 
wide  from  east  to  west.  The  flower  of  the  Confederate 
army,  commanded  by  the  South's  greatest  military 
genius,  was  planted  in  the  middle  of  this  territory.  Tip 


206  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

to  the  close  of  1863  more  battles  had  been  fought  ou 
this  ground — nearly  forty  in  all — than  on  any  other 
strip  of  land  of  like  extent  in  the  South;  and  yet,  so 
far  as  protecting  the  Confederate  capital  was  concerned, 
Lee  was  master  of  the  field.  Lincoln  knew,  as  well  as 
the  hero  of  many  victories  knew,  that  any  further  move- 
ment towards  Richmond  would  "exact  its  frightful  toll 
of  blood."  But  both  were  reconciled  to  the  fact  that 
the  appalling  sacrifice  of  life  which  must  be  made  in 
the  grapple  with  Lee  was  not  too  great  a  price  to  pay 
for  the  saving  of  the  Union. 

In  his  movement  against  Lee,  Grant's  confidence 
and  judgment  were  strengthened  by  his  freedom  from 
the  morbid  delusion,  so  often  exhibited  in  McClellan, 
that  the  enemy  greatly  outnumbered  him.  Neither  did 
he  harbor  for  a  moment  the  unpatriotic  thought  which 
at  the  time  prevailed  among  many  Northern  people, 
that  the  Southern  "stalwart"  soldiers,  as  they  were  often 
called  in  the  North,  had  better  fighting  qualities  than 
the  boys  from  the  schools,  workshops,  and  farms  of  the 
North. 

On  the  26th  of  March  Grant  repaired  to  his  head- 
quarters at  Culpeper,  seventy-five  miles  southwest  of 
Washington.  Lee's  headquarters  were  at  Orange  Court 
House,  only  fifteen  miles  further  south. 

The  strength  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  at  the 
end  of  April,  1864,  was  122,000,  and  according  to  com- 
mon reports  the  Confederate  forces  under  Lee  numbered 
62,000.  But  Grant  reminds  us  that  the  manner  of 


PREPARING   TO  FIGHT  LEE  207 

estimating  numbers  in  the  two  armies  differed  mate- 
rially. "In  the  Confederate  army  often  only  bayonets 
are  taken  into  account;  never,  I  believe,  do  they  esti- 
mate more  than  are  handling  the  guns  of  the  artillery 
and  armed  with  muskets  or  carbines.  Officers  and 
details  of  enlisted  men  are  not  included.  In  the  North- 
ern armies  the  estimate  is  most  liberal,  taking  in  all 
connected  with  the  army  and  drawing  pay.  . 
Estimating  in  the  same  manner  as  ours,  Lee  had  not  less 
than  80,000  men  at  the  start;  and  his  reinforcements 
were  about  equal  to  ours  during  the  campaign.  He  was 
on  the  defensive,  and  in  a  country  in  which  every 
stream,  every  road,  every  obstacle  to  the  movement  of 
troops  and  every  natural  defence  were  familiar  to  him 
and  his  army.  .  .  .  All  circumstances  considered, 
we  did  not  have  any  advantage  in  numbers." 

The  Union  army  at  this  time,  over  which  Grant  had 
command,  was  not  far  from  600,000,  and  the  amazing 
activity  of  his  mind  between  the  23d  of  March,  the  date 
of  his  return  to  Washington  from  the  West,  and  April 
4th,  is  shown  in  his  plan  to  utilize  effectively  this  vast 
army  of  volunteers  in  making,  so  far  as  it  was  possible, 
a  simultaneous  movement  against  all  the  Confederate 
forces  in  the  field. 

Colonel  Henderson,  who  is  one  of  the  most  candid 
of  foreign  critics  of  Grant,  says  in  The  Science  of  War: 
"Until  Grant  took  command  in  1864,  the  Federal  army 
never  operated  in  combination.  While  one  was  mov- 
ing forward  the  other  was  resting  or  preparing  for  a 


208  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

fresh  advance;  and  this  disjointed  state  of  things  per- 
mitted their  enemy  to  reinforce  the  threatened  point 
at  his  leisure.  Grant  initiated  a  new  policy.  He  pressed 
his  opponents  at  every  point  simultaneously.  Relying 
on  his  superior  numbers  he  neutralized  all  the  South- 
ern advantages  of  interior  lines.  ...  It  was  easy 
enough  for  the  Southern  armies  to  get  across  the  Con- 
federacy in  a  very  short  time,  and,  by  destroying  the 
railroads,  to  make  pursuit  hopeless.  This  was  pre- 
vented by  Grant's  energy  in  pushing  the  attack  at  every 
point." 

The  armies  involved  were  to  move  with  almost  the 
precision  with  which  one  would  move  his  men  on  a 
chess-board.  Therefore  Grant  found  it  necessary  to 
give  Meade  confidential  instructions  regarding  his  prep- 
arations for  the  coming  campaign  in  Virginia.  Meade 
was  in  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  the 
keynote  of  Grant's  plan  of  campaign  was  sounded  in 
these  instructions:  "Lee's  army  will  be  your  objective 
point.  Wherever  Lee  goes,  there  you  will  go  also." 
This  was  Grant's  plan  to  take  Richmond.  It  was  new 
to  the  generals  on  the  Potomac,  but  almost  everything 
he  had  done  during  the  previous  three  years  was  both 
new  and  strange  to  the  commanding  generals,  East  and 
West.  He  seems  to  have  been  the  first  clearly  to  com- 
prehend the  fact  that  the  Confederacy  stood  on  only  two 
legs:  Richmond,  the  seat  of  its  power  in  the  East,  con- 
stituting  the  right ;  and  Vicksburg,  in  the  West,  block- 
lading  the  Mississippi  with  its  frowning  guns,  being  the 


PREPARING  TO  FIGHT  LEE  209 

left.  Having  broken  the  latter,  thus  reopening  the 
Mississippi,  Grant  now  purposed  to  break  the  former 
by  chasing  Lee  and  provoking  him  to  fight,  or  flanking 
him,  and  steadily  approaching  Kichmond,  "dragging 
Lee  after  him." 

Grant  tells  us  that  he  had  not  seen  Meade  from  the 
close  of  the  Mexican  War  until  the  llth  of  March, 
1864,  when  they  met  at  Brandy  Station.  At  that  time 
Meade  earnestly  urged  Grant  to  relieve  him  of  the  com- 
mand of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  if  he  wanted  Sher- 
man or  any  other  officer  who  had  served  with  him  in 
the  West,  to  take  his  place.  Grant  refused  to  do  this, 
but  it  gave  the  Commander-in-chief  "a  more  favorable 
opinion  of  Meade  than  did  his  great  victory  at  Gettys- 
burg the  July  before." 

But  Grant  says:  "Meade's  position  afterwards 
proved  embarrassing  to  me  if  not  to  him.  ...  I 
tried  to  make  his  position  as  nearly  as  possible  what  it 
would  have  been  if  I  had  been  in  Washington  or  any 
other  place  away  from  his  command.  I  therefore  gave 
all  orders  for  the  movements  of  the  Army  of  the  Poto- 
mac to  Meade  to  have  them  executed.  To  avoid  the 
necessity  of  having  to  give  orders  direct,  I  established 
my  headquarters  near  his,  unless  there  were  reasons  for 
locating  them  elsewhere.  This  sometimes  happened, 
and  I  had  occasion  to  give  orders  direct  to  the  troops 
affected." 

But  it  was  as  gratifying  as  it  was  surprising  tha4 
the  two  commanders,  so  dissimilar  in  many  personal 


210  GRAXT,  THE  MAX  OF  MYSTERY 

traits,  maintained  such  harmonious  relationship  in  the 
great  struggle  and  numberless  vexations  of  the  field. 
Physically  there  was  a  wide  difference  between  them. 
One  was  small,  modest  in  speech,  slow  in  movement, 
lacking  in  military  bearing,  reserved  in  demeanor,  with 
an  impassive  face,  and  almost  listless  at  times.  The 
other  was  tall,  emphatic,  the  very  picture  of  a  soldier, 
quick  in  articulation  and  in  action,  with  a  "face  as  of 
antique  parchment."  To  a  casual  observer  it  would 
seem  as  if  the  military  rank  of  the  two  men  should  be 
reversed.  But  Meade  was  a  brave  soldier  and  a  splen- 
did patriot,  and  the  complaints  that  he  did  not  receive 
fair  treatment  while  in  command  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  under  Grant  came  from  his  unwise  friends 
and  never  from  him.  But  it  must  be  admitted  that 
Meade  did  not  possess  the  unconquerable  will  and  the 
genius  to  plan  and  successfully  execute  a  great  cam- 
paign like  the  final  one  against  Lee.  The  peculiar 
qualities  which  made  Grant  so  successful  in  the  West, 
were  lacking  in  Meade  as  well  as  in  all  his  predecessors 
on  the  Potomac. 

When  Richard  Henry  Dana,  Jr.,  was  in  Washing- 
ton in  April,  1864,  he  met  Grant  for  the  first  time  at 
the  breakfast  table  at  Willard's,  and  in  his  journal  of 
April  21st  he  describes  most  vividly  "the  homeliness  of 
the  rather  shabby  and  unimpressive  figure"  selected  to 
lead  the  armies  of  the  Union  to  victory.  Mr.  Dana 
says,  as  quoted  in  his  life  by  Charles  Francis  Adams: 
"Grant  gets  over  the  ground  queerly.  He  does  not 


PREPARING  TO  FIGHT  LEE  211 

march  or  walk,  but  pitches  along  as  if  the  next  step 
would  bring  him  on  his  nose.  But  his  face  looks  firm 
and  hard  and  his  eye  is  clear  and  resolute,  and  he  is 
certainly  natural  and  clear  of  all  appearance  of  self- 
consciousness.  How  war,  how  all  great  crises  bring  us 
to  the  one-man  power!" 

Mr.  Dana  said  to  Grant:  "I  suppose  you  don't 
mean  to  breakfast  here  again  till  the  war  is  over." 
Handling  his  English  "as  cavalierly  as  if  it  were  the 
enemy,"  the  General  promptly  answered:  "Not  here, 
I  shan't."  He  made  good  his  promise.  He  did  not 
breakfast  at  Willard's  again  till  the  army  of  Lee  was 
broken  in  pieces,  and  Peace  was  emblazoned  upon  "the 
dome  of  the  Union  sky." 

With  the  beginning  of  May  the  army  was  ready  to 
move  toward  Richmond ;  and  on  the  30th  of  April  the 
President  sent  Grant  a  charming  letter,  part  of  which 
is  as  follows : 

"Not  expecting  to  see  you  again  before  the  spring  campaign 
opens,  I  wish  to  express  in  this  way  my  entire  satisfaction  with 
what  you  have  done  up  to  this  time,  so  far  as  I  understand  it. 
The  particulars  of  your  plans  I  neither  know  nor  seek  to  know. 
You  are  vigilant  and  self-reliant;  and,  pleased  with  this,  I  wish 
not  to  obtrude  any  constraints  or  restraints  upon  you.  .  .  . 
If  there  is  anything  wanting  which  is  within  my  power  to  give, 
do  not  fail  to  let  me  know.  And  now  with  a  brave  army  and  a 
just  cause,  may  God  sustain  you." 

Grant  was  touched  more  deeply  by  this  letter  than 
by  any  communication  he  had  received  from  any  public 
official.  He  cared  little  for  praise  or  fame,  and  the 
joyful  public  acclamations  following  any  one  of  his 


212  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

great  victories  apparently  did  not  move  him.  But  the 
words  which  came  from  the  great  heart  of  Lincoln  made 
a  deep  impression  upon  him,  and  in  the  quiet  hour  of 
Sunday  afternoon,  May  1st,  and  while  in  a  mood  be- 
fitting the  occasion,  he  wrote  an  answer,  the  like  of 
which  the  President  had  never  received  from  any  pre- 
vious commander: 

"Your  very  kind  letter  of  yesterday  is  just  received.  The 
confidence  you  express  for  the  future  and  satisfaction  for  the 
past  in  my  military  administration  is  acknowledged  .with  pride. 
.  .  .  I  have  never  had  any  cause  of  complaint  .  .  .  against 
the  administration  or  the  Secretary  of  War,  for  throwing  any 
embarrassment  in  the  way  of  my  vigorously  prosecuting  what 
appears  to  be  my  duty.  ...  I  have  been  astonished  at  the 
readiness  with  which  everything  asked  for  has  been  yielded  with- 
out even  an  explanation  being  asked.  Should  my  success  be  less 
than  I  desire  and  expect,  the  least  I  can  say  is,  the  fault  is  not 
with  you." 

By  the  night  of  May  3d  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
was  ready  to  move  in  the  face  of  the  enemy  and  toward 
Richmond.  On  that  memorable  night  Grant  assembled 
his  officers  at  his  headquarters  at  Culpeper  and  quietly 
and  briefly  unfolded  to  them  a  comprehensive  plan  of  a 
campaign  which  showed  remarkable  penetrative  power ; 
and  while  this  impressive  midnight  meeting  was  being 
held,  the  world  was  looking  on,  wondering  what  would 
be  the  result. 


XXVIII. 
THE  DESPERATE  FIGHT  IN  THE  WILDERNESS. 

LITTLE  after  midnight  on  May  4th, 
1864,  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  moved  to 
the  south  side  of  the  Kapidan.  The  Con- 
federates were  not  ignorant  of  this  move- 
ment. They  clearly  divined  its  purpose.  The  Con- 
federate authorities  at  Richmond  now  became  satisfied 
for  the  first  time  that  it  was  really  Grant's  purpose  to 
take  the  city.  Before  this  they  believed  the  demonstra- 
tions in  that  direction  were  a  mere  feint  to  conceal  his 
real  intentions.  They  flattered  themselves  that  "On  to 
Richmond"  had  been  tried  so  often  without  success  that 
it  would  not  be  ventured  on  very  soon  again ;  and  that 
Grant  was  endeavoring  to  accomplish  by  strategy  some 
grand  result  not  attainable  by  the  valor  and  strength 
of  the  Union  armies. 

Never  was  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  so  peculiarly 
and  emphatically  the  Grand  Army  as  it  was  at  the  be- 
ginning and  during  the  remainder  of  one  of  the  most 


214  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

memorable  campaigns  in  the  history  of  modern  warfare. 
All  former  methods  of  trying  to  take  Richmond  were 
abandoned.  The  current  phrase,  "All  quiet  along  the 
Potomac,"  was  now  obsolete.  The  army  was  in  the 
field  to  fight  and  win.  The  magnificent  army  of  122,- 
000  was  splendidly  equipped  for  any  emergency. 
Grant  was  a  good  feeder  of  men.  His  supply  train 
was  made  up  of  4,000  wagons,  which,  if  placed  in 
single  file,  would  reach  from  the  Rapidan  to  Richmond. 
The  infantry  consisted  of  four  corps,  the  Second 
commanded  by  W.  S.  Hancock,  the  Fifth  by  G.  K.  War- 
ren, the  Sixth  by  John  Sedgwick,  and  the  Ninth — an 
independent  organization — by  Burnside.  Sheridan, 
whose  gallantry  at  Chattanooga  had  been  observed  by 
Grant,  was  called  to  the  Potomac  and  given  command 
of  14,000  cavalry.  In  addition  to  this,  over  300 
pieces  of  cannon  accompanied  the  command.  Grant 
hoped  to  be  able  to  flank  Lee  and  fight  him  on  more 
favorable  ground  than  that  which  lay  between  the 
Rapidan  and  Spottsylvania.  Biit  in  this  he  was  dis- 
appointed. The  movement  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
was  discerned  by  Lee,  and  on  the  afternoon  of  Thurs- 
day, May  5th,  the  clash  of  the  two  armies  began.  The 
time  and  place  were  of  Lee's  own  choosing.  He  had 
the  enormous  advantage  of  position.  He  seems  to  have 
been  confident  that  he  could  trap  Grant  in  the  Wilder- 
ness. But  Grant  was  determined  to  stand  battle  even 
against  tremendous  disadvantage ;  and  thus  "began  the 
mutual  slaughter  of  the  Wilderness,  on  a  scene  the 


THE  DESPERATE  FIGHT  IN  THE  WILDERNESS       215 

strangest  ever  chosen  by  man  or  by  destiny  for  a  field  of 
a  great  battle." 

The  Wilderness,  which  proved  a  formidable  ob- 
stacle to  Grant's  advance,  and  into  which  he  plunged 
his  army  when  provoked  by  Lee,  is  described  as  a 
regular  jungle,  a  table-land  covered  with  dense  under- 
growth, scrub-oak,  dwarf  pines,  and  hazel  thicket  woven 
together  by  trailing  vines  and  briars.  It  was  nothing 
less  than  "a  region  of  gloom  and  the  shadow  of  death." 

I  cannot  here  describe  the  movements  of  all  the 
corps  or  divisions  engaged  in  the  two  battles  in  the 
Wilderness.  By  the  limitation  placed  upon  me  I  must 
confine  myself  as  closely  as  possible  to  the  deeds  of 
Grant,  which  show  how  much  his  presence  on  the  field 
and  his  direction  of  all  the  chief  movements  in  bat- 
tle inspired  the  valor  of  the  army  and  influenced  results. 

On  Thursday  morning,  May  5th,  when  the  corps 
commanders  took  up  the  line  of  March  in  two  columns 
five  miles  apart,  but  to  concentrate  when  conditions  de- 
manded, Lee  was  massing  his  troops  to  break  the  Union 
line.  This  was  the  battle  in  the  Wilderness.  At  this 
hour  (early  on  Thursday)  Grant  had  not  reached  the 
leading  column,  but  Meade  assumed  the  responsibility 
to  say  to  Warren,  whose  corps  was  in  advance,  "We 
must  fight.  This  is  the  battleground."  And,  "If  the 
enemy  attacks,  go  into  battle  with  all  the  men  you  have." 
This  was  no  sooner  saM  '.rian  ~Yarren's  corps  was  struck 
by  E well's  column. 

When  Grant  arrived  at  the  scene  of  action  he  or- 


216  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

dered  Hancock  to  join  Warren.  Then  Longstreet  be- 
gan to  hurl  his  battalions  against  the  Second  Corps.  But 
it  was  all  in  vain.  It  was  a  terrible  beginning  of  the 
march  to  Richmond.  From  an  early  hour  in  the  after- 
noon till  night  came  on  the  firing  was  incessant.  The 
woods  and  underbrush  were  so  dense  that  officers  had  to 
dismount.  It  is  said  that  at  times  portions  of  the  two 
armies  were  hardly  more  than  two  hundred  yards  apart, 
but  not  a  man  on  either  side  could  be  seen. 

There  was  no  room  in  the  jungle  for  manoeuvering 
the  army;  no  possibility  of  a  bayonet  charge;  no  help 
from  artillery;  none  from  cavalry;  nothing  but  close, 
square,  severe,  face  to  face  volleys  of  fatal  musketry — 
roll  surging  upon  roll — without  the  least  cessation! 
The  onslaught  of  the  Confederates  was  pushed  with 
strange  obstinacy.  Lee  was  fighting  with  desperation 
on  the  ground  he  had  chosen  for  a  victory.  But  it  was 
not  until  darkness  came  that  he  realized  that  his  efforts 
had  failed,  that  his  best  chance  of  success  had  gone,  and 
he  quietly  withdrew  from  the  scene  of  carnage. 

When  the  account  of  the  first  clash  with  Lee  reached 
Washington,  Lincoln  is  reported  to  have  said:  "Any 
other  commander  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  has  had 
would  have  at  once  withdrawn  his  army  over  the  Rapi- 
dan  after  that  first  day's  reception."  But  instead  of 
getting  out  of  the  Wilderness,  Grant  ordered  an  attack 
all  along  the  line  at  five  o'clock  on  Friday  morning. 
And  it  was  such  generalship  and  fighting  as  this  that 
prompted  Quartermaster  General  Ingalls,  who  was  with 


THE  DESPERATE  FIGHT  IJf  THE  WILDERNESS      217 

the  army,  to  say:  "The  world  never  heard  of  war  be- 
fore." 

The  second  day's  struggle  in  the  Wilderness  began 
at  Grant's  appointed  time.  The  attack  was  carried  all 
along  the  line,  some  five  miles  in  length,  the  army  fac- 
ing southward.  It  was  the  battle  of  Thursday  contin- 
ued— the  same  storm  of  bullets,  the  same  continuous, 
desperate,  determined  struggle  against  hampering  con- 
ditions, the  same  murderous  conflict  for  the  right  of  way 
to  Richmond,  the  same  willingness  of  the  Union  soldiers 
to  take  all  the  chances  of  life  or  death  in  the  tremendous 
onslaught  of  a  valiant  foe. 

The  conflict  began  on  the  left  of  the  line  in  front  of 
Hancock,  who  succeeded  in  forcing  the  enemy  a  mile 
and  a  half  to  the  rear,  and  within  a  hundred  and  fifty 
yards  of  Lee's  headquarters.  The  reward  for  this  vigor- 
ous assault  was  the  capture  of  the  enemy's  rifle-pits, 
flags,  and  many  prisoners.  But  the  victory  was  soon 
followed  by  a  repulse.  The  Confederates  were  rein- 
forced by  Longstreet,  who  began  a  charge  on  the  Sec- 
ond corps  with  a  force  irresistible.  Solid  masses  of 
infantry  were  hurled  upon  Hancock  time  after  time, 
but  at  last  he  took  a  stand  from  which  he  could  not  be 
driven.  Reinforcements  had  been  sent  him,  and  later 
in  the  day  Grant  ordered  Hancock  to  renew  the  assault, 
and  at  once  the  fortunes  of  the  day  were  changed. 

A  number  of  sharp  attacks  were  made  at  various 
points,  and  invariably  repulsed,  whether  made  by  the 
Union  troops  or  the  enemy.  These  occasional  repulses 


218  VRAXT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

by  the  Confederates  did  not  bring  on  forebodings  of  de- 
feat in  the  minds  of  those  who  knew  the  tenacity  of  pur- 
pose and  fertility  of  resources  which  characterized 
Grant.  During  the  moments  when  he  was  watching  the 
battle  in  silence,  he  was  in  full  command  of  all  his 
powers,  with  the  outward  calm  and  composure  of  perfect 
self-control. 

Friday  was  a  trying  day  to  Lee.  Things  had  not 
gone  according  to  his  reckoning.  To  fail  to  stampede 
Grant,  or,  at  least,  not  to  be  able  to  hold  his  own  lines 
on  Saturday,  was  a  grievous  disappointment.  The 
Confederate  commander's  calculation  was  that  Grant 
ought  to  have  considered  himself  beaten,  and  retired 
after  the  two  days'  fight  and  ended  the  campaign,  as 
some  of  his  predecessors  had  done,  almost  as  soon  as  it 
was  begun.  But  that  was  not  Grant's  way  of  fighting, 
as  his  western  campaigns  might  have  taught  his  Con- 
federate opponent. 

And  so  the  battle  raged  with  the  never-varying  flash- 
ing of  musketry  and  the  constant  distress  caused  by  nat- 
ural impediments.  Not  more  than  a  score  of  the  300 
cannon  with  the  army  could  be  employed ;  and  whatever 
of  cavalry  was  brought  in  action  was  dismounted. 
During  Friday  Hancock  was  ordered  to  repel  one  of 
the  fiercest  assaults  encountered  in  the  Wilderness.  It 
was  brief,  but  bloody,  terrific  in  power  and  almost 
superhuman  momentum. 

Grant's  hope  and  determination  were  indestructible. 
On  Friday  afternoon,  when  the  troops  were  hotly  en- 


THE  DESPERATE  FIGHT  IN  THE  WILDERNESS       219 

gaged,  the  air  filled  with  gloom,  the  sinoke  almost 
stifling,  and  the  heat  oppressive,  General  Rawlins,  chief  - 
of-staff,  seemed  to  manifest  some  misgivings  as  to  the 
result  of  the  day's  work.  But  the  Commander-in-chief, 
with  a  look  that  did  not  bear  any  indication  of  a  dis- 
turbed feeling,  quietly  said :  "The  fighting  is  difficult 
and  hard,  and  the  losses  are  heavy,  but  Lee  will  not  gain 
an  inch  of  ground  by  bringing  on  this  battle." 

It  is  conclusive  from  the  records  of  Thursday  and 
Friday  that  "Lee  attempted  the  same  tactics  at  the  Wil- 
derness on  Grant  that  he  had  practised  on  Hooker  at 
Chancellorsville,  where  he  had  defeated  an  army  larger 
by  20,000  men  than  that  with  which  Grant  had  passed 
the  river.  He  failed  to  drive  Grant  back  across  the 
Rapidan,  as  he  had  driven  Hooker  the  year  before  from 
nearly  those  same  woods,  and  Burnside  from  Fredericks- 
burg  in  December,  1862.  The  effect  of  this  failure  was 
to  change  Lee  from  the  bold  aggressor  to  a  careful,  even 
timid  defender  of  fortified  lines." 

The  dawn  of  Saturday  showed  that  Lee  had  fallen 
back  behind  his  intrenchments.  The  hard  hammering 
he  received  from  Grant  during  the  previous  two  days 
gave  him  much  concern,  and  no  attempt  was  made  to 
plunge  his  much  weakened  army  into  another  battle. 
And  here  ended  the  historic  battle  of  the  Wilderness, 
in  which  was  witnessed,  Grant  says,  "more  desperate 
fighting  than  had  ever  been  known  on  this  continent." 
From  beginning  to  end  it  was  a  bloody  bush-fight.  So 
determined  was  the  fight  that  in  the  belt  between  the 


220  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

opposing  forces  were  places  which  were  fought  over 
four  or  five  times  during  the  battle. 

The  mysterious  man  in  the  Wilderness — "the  small 
man  on  the  black  horse" — was  an  interesting  study. 
The  keen-eyed,  ever  alert,  and  nonpartisan  war  corre- 
spondents who  were  on  the  field  to  witness  the  opera- 
tions of  the  army  and  record  events  are  the  most  com- 
petent persons  to  portray  Grant's  characteristics  in  his 
Virginia  campaign.  On  Saturday,  May  7th,  Charles 
A.  Page,  the  brilliant  and  trustworthy  correspondent  of 
the  New  York  Tribune,  rode  along  the  lines,  looking 
for  something  romantic  in  the  appearance  of  the  man 
who  was  the  leader  of  the  Union  armies.  "The  shrewd, 
profound,  prescient  soul  and  hero  of  Vicksburg  gleamed 
only  at  rare  intervals.  No  intimation  of  the  workings 
of  the  inner  man  is  portrayed.  The  bronzed  face  was 
immobile — impenetrable  as  iron." 

Once  it  was  observed  that  Grant  had  his  staff  with 
an  escort  dash  through  the  woods  of  the  Wilderness 
upon  by-roads  to  avoid  the  troops  and  wagon-trains,  his 
escort  trailing  after  him.  They  galloped  through  the 
darkness,  occasionally  overtaking  a  body  of  troops  who, 
as  they  passed,  raised  such  shouts  and  cheers  as  to  re- 
duce any  similar  demonstration  which  the  army  had 
manifested  toward  any  other  commander  into  utter  in- 
significance. Grant  seldom  smiled  or  bowed,  because 
he  had  serious  business  on  hand,  but  for  all  that,  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  had  more  confidence  in  him  than 
in  any  previous  commander. 


THE  DESPERATE  FIGHT  IN  THE  WILDERNESS      221 

William  F.  G.  Shanks  sent  from  the  Wilderness 
this  letter  to  the  New  York  Herald: 

"I  had  seen  Grant  at  Vicksburg  and  in  Tennessee, 
and  his  appearance  was  familiar,  but  as  I  strolled 
through  the  group  of  officers  reclining  on  the  ground  un- 
der the  trees  at  headquarters,  I  looked  for  him  some 
time  in  vain,  such  was  his  insignificant,  unpretending 
aspect  and  conduct  while  the  battle  was  raging  in  all 
its  fury.  A  stranger  to  the  insignia  of  military  rank 
would  have  little  dreamed  that  the  plain,  quiet  man  who 
sat  with  his  back  against  a  tree,  apparently  heedless 
and  unmoved,  was  the  one  upon  whom  the  fortunes  of 
the  day,  if  not  of  the  age  and  country,  were  hinging. 

"The  consultation  with  Meade,  or  the  direct  sug- 
gestion or  command,  all  took  place  with  that  same  im- 
perturbability of  countenance  for  which  he  has  always 
been  remarkable.  No  movement  of  the  enemy  seemed 
to  puzzle  him.  .  .  .  And  while  all  this  trans- 
pired he  stood  calmly  in  the  group,  at  times  smoking 
his  favorite  cigar — a  more  frequent  puffing  only  indi- 
cating the  inward  working  of  the  mind.  If  something 
transpired  which  he  deemed  needed  his  personal  atten- 
tion, away  he  darted  on  horse-back  to  the  scene,  the  one 
or  two  of  his  aides  and  an  orderly  exerting  their  utmost 
to  keep  up  with  him.  Arriving  on  the  spot,  he  calmly 
considered  the  matter,  with  ready  judgment  communi- 
cated the  necessary  orders,  and  then  galloped  away  to 
another  part  of  the  field." 

Lee  said  to  his  officers  on  Thursday  morning,  the 


222  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

5th :  "I  will  give  Grant  three  days  to  get  out  of  the  Wil- 
derness, and  back  across  the  Rapidan."  He  supposed 
that  history,  as  to  the  movements  of  the  army  of  the 
Potomac,  would  repeat  itself.  But  with  all  the  difficul- 
ties and  horrors  of  the  first  battle,  Grant  seemed  as  if 
he  were  not  a  man,  but  a  tireless,  relentless  Force 
set  for  the  devouring  of  the  Confederate  hosts.  He 
did  not  get  out  of  the  Wilderness  in  three  days,  but 
firmly  set  his  face  towards  Richmond,  moved  on  and 
"dragged  Lee  after  him." 

The  connection  of  Sheridan  and  his  cavalry  with 
the  battle  of  the  Wilderness  furnishes  an  incident  which 
deserves  notice  because  of  its  importance  as  a  piece  of 
war  history,  although  not  a  matter  of  record.  It  has 
already  been  stated  that  the  cavalry  performed  but  little 
service  in  the  famous  "brush-wood"  battle.  No  general 
in  the  army  had  a  greater  thirst  for  a  square  open  fight 
with  the  enemy  than  Phil.  Sheridan.  He  had  a  par- 
donable self-confidence  and  immense  courage,  and  could 
not  get  away  from  the  conviction  that  he  could  whip 
any  cavalry  force  the  enemy  might  hurl  against  him, 
and,  like  Grant,  he  was  peculiarly  fortunate  in  never 
having  over-measured  his  own  strength. 

General  Edward  W.  Whitaker,  a  member  of  Sheri- 
dan's staff,  has  contributed  to  The  Independent  an  ac- 
count of  how  the  dashing  cavalry  leader  came  to  fight 
the  great  battle  of  Yellow  Tavern.  I  can  give  only  the 
substance  of  what  General  Whitaker  says.  During  the 
close  of  the  Wilderness  battle  Sheridan  gave  Whitaker 


THE  DESPERATE  FIGHT  72V    THE  WILDERNESS       223 

oral  directions  to  find  Grant,  who  was  somewhere  on 
the  battle  line,  and  say  to  him  that  he  was  tired  of 
trying  to  fight  in  the  woods,  and  wanted  authority  to 
take  his  entire  cavalry  force  into  Lee's  rear.  Grant  and 
Meade  were  found  in  the  pines  where  shot  and  shell 
were  flying  through  the  tree-tops,  shattering  everything 
in  their  course.  Whitaker  delivered  the  message  to 
the  Commander-in-chief,  and  upon  receiving  it  he 
turned  to  Meade  with  remarkable  calmness  and  said: 
"General,  what  do  you  think  of  it  ?  Sheridan  Avants  to 
take  his  entire  cavalry  into  Lee's  rear."  Meade  re- 
plied, with  a  shrug  of  the  shoulders,  that  he  did  not  like 
the  idea,  and  added:  "What  about  our  trains?  Will 
the  cavalry  officers  be  responsible  for  our  trains?" 
Grant  replied:  "General,  I  guess  Stuart  will  have 
enough  to  do  with  Sheridan  in  Lee's  rear,  and  we  can 
take  care  of  the  trains." 

Grant's  prompt  decision  had  a  far-reaching  effect. 
In  four  days  the  decisive  battle  of  Yellow  Tavern  was 
fought  within  six  miles  of  Richmond,  the  ablest  cavalry 
general  of  the  Confederacy  was  killed,  and  his  force 
routed. 

At  no  time  during  the  war  were  the  apparent  incon- 
gruities and  contradictory  qualities  of  Grant's  physical 
and  mental  characteristics  more  marked  than  during 
this  period  of  the  Virginia  campaign.  Visitors  and 
war  correspondents  who  first  saw  him  in  the  Wilderness 
were  filled  with  amazement.  It  has  been  said  that  "his 
physiognomy  was  always  at  fault."  The  light  of  his 


224  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

countenance  never  shone  before  "men  no  matter  how 
great  were  his  achievements  on  the  field.  Small  in 
stature  and  somewhat  stooped  in  form,  but  endowed 
with  wonderful  endurance  and  aggressiveness;  slow  in 
movement,  but  marvellous  in  his  spring  to  action  before 
the  enemy ;  homely,  and  heedless  as  to  dress  and  to  cer- 
tain manners  becoming  his  rank  as  a  Commander-in- 
chief,  but  a  gentleman  in  every  act  and  word;  modest 
as  a  maiden  and  timid  in  many  ways,  he  was  the  boldest 
and  most  intrepid  fighter  and  conqueror  of  his  time. 
Gentle,  sympathetic,  and  humane  to  a  rare  degree,  he 
was  smiting  Lee  as  he  had  smitten  Beauregard,  Long- 
street,  and  Bragg  with  terrific  tenacity  and  force,  "with 
his  hammer  of  blood  and  flesh  when  he  believed  it  was 
the  only  way  to  success." 


XXIX. 

THE  RACE  TO  SPOTTSYLVANIA-THE  BATTLE. 

Saturday,  when  Grant  observed  that  Lee 
had  abandoned  his  intrenchments,  he  de- 
cided to  move  to  Spottsylvania.  Lee  began 
the  same  moment  and  nearly  at  the  same 
time.  The  seedy  little  old  town,  forsaken  long  ago,  was 
an  important  strategic  point,  from  which  the  roads 
leading  southward,  both  to  the  right  and  left,  diverged ; 
and  here  Lee  determined  to  make  another  trial  of  his 
strength. 

In  the  race  on  Saturday  night,  May  7th,  between 
the  two  armies  on  parallel  roads,  for  the  occupation  of 
Spottsylvania,  the  enemy  won.  But  this  must  not  be 
interpreted  as  conveying  any  censure  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac.  It  was  necessary  that  Grant  should  take 
heavy  supply  trains  with  him  which  somewhat  retarded 
his  progress.  But  it  was  not  this  simple  accident  of 
war  which  caused  the  loss  of  Spottsylvania  to  Grant. 
When  his  wagon  trains  were  set  in  motion  on  Saturday 


GRANT,  THE  J/.l.Y  OF  MYSTERY 


afternoon,  Lee  discovered  the  movement,  and  not  being 
certain  whether  Grant  was  moving  to  the  left  or  falling' 
back  to  Fredericksburg,  he  ordered  Longstreet's  corps, 
then  under  the  command  of  R.  H.  Anderson,  to  march 
to  Spottsylvania  on  Sunday  morning.  But  Anderson 
transcended  his  orders,  with  a  success  due  partly  to  acci- 
dent and  partly  to  his  excess  of  zeal.  Finding  the 
woods  in  his  route  on  fire,  and  no  suitable  place  to 
bivouac,  he  pushed  to  Spottsylvania  during  the  night ; 
and  thus  it  came  about  that  Warren's  corps  (which 
formed  the  head  of  Grant's  column),  arriving  in  the 
neighborhood  the  next  morning  after  a  laborious  march, 
found  themselves  confronted  by  Longstreet's  veterans 
in  position.  This  singular  incident  caused  both  Grant 
and  Lee  to  be  grievously  disappointed.  Grant  had 
hoped  to  pass  beyond  Spottsylvania  in  his  night  march ; 
and  Lee,  supposing  that  Grant  did  not  intend  to  go  to 
Spottsylvania,  telegraphed  exultingly  to  Richmond : 
"The  enemy  has  abandoned  his  position  and  is  moving 
towards  Fredericksburg.  .  .  .  Our  advance  is  now 
at  Spottsylvania  Court  House." 

A  shower  of  rain  in  the  night  of  June  17th  did 
much  to  change  the  fortunes  of  Xapoleon  at  Waterloo ; 
and  burning  woods  in  the  night  of  May  7th  was  one  of 
the  strange  chances  of  war  which  decide  the  fate  of 
battles.  Could  Anderson  have  bivouacked  with  safety 
on  Saturday  night,  in  all  probability  the  desperate  bat- 
tle at  Spottsylvania,  with  its  awful  slaughter  to  the 
Union  forces,  would  not  have  been  fought. 


THE  RACE  TO  SPOTTSYLVANIA— THE  BATTLE       227 

On  Sunday  Grant  found  the  enemy  quite  strongly 
entrenched  at  Spottsylvania,  his  lines  almost  encircling 
the  town.  During  Sunday  and  Monday — the  8th  and 
9th — the  Union  $nny  was  placed  in  battle-line  which 
stretched  nearly  six  miles  in  the  form  of  a  crescent. 
From  the  moment  Grant  arrived  near  Spottsylvania,  he 
was  impressed  with  the  solemn  fact  that  conditions 
foreboded  the  coming  of  a  great  storm  of  battle.  With 
the  manoeuvering  on  Sunday  and  Monday  was  much 
sharp  fighting  which  was  indecisive,  except  that  it 
demonstrated  that  Lee,  with  all  his  advantage  of  posi- 
tion, could  not  make  Grant  take  one  step  backward. 
The  battle  ground  was  covered  with  forest  and  tangled 
underbrush,  which  meant  that  the  conflict  in  the  Wil- 
derness was  to  be  repeated  at  Spottsylvania ;  and  behind 
all.  these  obstructions  were  concealed  the  enemy's  bat- 
teries. It  was  on  Monday  that  General  Sedgwick,  the 
brave  commander  of  the  Sixth  corps,  fell  a  victim  to 
the  deadly  aim  of  Confederate  sharpshooters.  While 
superintending  the  placing  of  a  battery,  he  was  laugh- 
ing at  his  men  for  wincing  at  the  whistling  of  the  shots 
which  came  dangerously  near  their  heads,  when  a  bullet 
pierced  his  face,  and  while  smiling,  he  died.  The  com- 
mand of  his  corps  thereafter  fell  upon  General  H.  G. 
Wright. 

Tuesday  morning,  May  10th,  was  intensely  hot. 
The  work  of  the  day  was  a  prelude  to  the  most  desperate 
battle  fought  by  the  army  since  Grant  left  Culpeper. 
Up  to  this  time  the  batteries  had  been  almost  silent; 


228  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

but  on  this  morning  they  began  a  wild  and  general 
roar.  Grant  had  ordered  an  attack  by  the  infantry  at 
one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  Lee  was  prepared  for 
the  assault.  As  details  do  not  belong  here,  a  general 
description  only  of  the  conflict  can  be  given. 

In  writing  of  the  heroism  and  patient  endurance  of 
the  Grand  Army  of  the  Potomac  in  its  operations  on 
Tuesday,  one  cannot  particularize  in  regiments  or 
brigades,  so  vast  were  the  forces  engaged.  ISTearly  all 
contributed  to  the  marvellous  scene  of  strife — "the  con- 
stant rattle  and  roll  of  musketry ;  the  roar  of  cannon ; 
the  deep  reverberations;  the  cheers  of  the  brave  men; 
the  explosion  of  shells  and  the  terrific  whizzing  of  the 
fragments."  The  main  attack  by  the  enemy  was  on 
Hancock's  corps.  He  faced  an  awful  storm  of  shot  and 
shell.  It  was  volley  after  volley,  surge  after  surge, 
roll  after  roll,  and  yet  how  the  Second  corps  stood  like 
a  wall  of  adamant !  A  trustworthy  correspondent  who 
saw  as  much  of  the  battle  as  was  possible  for  any  one 
man  to  see,  says  the  attack  of  Longstreet  upon  the 
Second  corps  at  Gettysburg  had  more  desperation  in  it 
than  that  at  Spottsylvania,  but  the  former  lasted  only 
fifteen  minutes  while  the  duration  of  the  latter  was 
through  hours  of  hard,  persistent,  sanguinary  conflict; 
and  here,  as  at  Gettysburg,  Longstreet's  attack  failed. 
Warren's  Fifth  corps  and  Wright's  Sixth  were  also  true 
and  effective  in  facing  the  deadly  storm  of  iron  and 
lead ;  but  having  borne  the  brunt  of  the  desperate  strug- 
gle, and  having  sacrificed  more  lives  to  the  cause  of  sue- 


THE  RACE  TO  SPOTTSYLVANIA—THE  BATTLE      229 

cess  than  all  other  portions  of  the  army  combined,  the 
valor  of  the  Second  corps  should  be  ever  memorable  in 
the  history  of  the  war  for  the  Union. 

General  J.  C.  Rice,  of  Warren's  corps,  was  mortally 
wounded  in  one  of  the  charges  on  Tuesday  afternoon, 
and  just  before  he  expired  he  requested  to  be  turned 
over  on  his  side.  "Which  way?"  asked  an  attendant. 
"Turn  my  face  toward  the  enemy";  and  with  these 
words  on  his  lips,  he  died,  as  many  hundreds  of  brave 
men  fell  that  day  with  their  faces  toward  the  enemy. 

During  the  forenoon  of  Tuesday  Grant  sent  this 
brief  message  to  Halleck :  "The  enemy  holds  our  front 
in  very  strong  force,  and  evinces  a  strong  disposition  to 
interpose  between  us  and  Richmond  to  the  last.  I  will 
take  no  backward  step.  Send  to  Belle  Plain  all  the  in- 
fantry you  can  rake  and  scrape."  The  hands  of  time 
never  turn  backwards,  neither  did  the  Army  of  the  Po- 
tomac under  the  lead  of  Grant  to  Richmond.  Had  there 
been  any  faltering  in  the  General  at  this  juncture,  any 
tardiness  in  his  decision,  any  shrinking  from  the  sacri- 
fice of  legions  of  brave  men  in  his  purpose  to  hold  his 
ground,  all  had  been  lost. 

When  the  carnage  of  Tuesday  closed  at  nightfall — 
the  fire  and  rolling  clouds  of  smoke  dividing  the  two 
armies  and  giving  the  scene  an  awful  sublimity — it 
seemed  that  not  much  had  been  gained  on  either  side. 
It  was  a  battle  of  various  phases  and  diverse  fortunes. 
In  some  instances,  there  were  perhaps  some  misunder- 
standings and  misadventures  among  the  officers ;  but  for 


230  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

all  that  it  was  a  great  battle,  and  Grant  was  still  hope- 
ful, and  at  an  early  hour  on  Wednesday  morning  the 
llth,  he  sent  the  following  message  to  Secretary  Stan- 
ton  : 

"Our  losses  have  been  heavy,  as  well  as  those  of  the  enemy. 
I  think  the  loss  of  the  enemy  must  be  greater.  We  have  taken 
over  five  thousand  prisoners  by  battle,  while  he  has  taken  from 
us  but  few,  excepting  stragglers." 

To  this  dispatch  belongs  a  paragraph  which  con- 
tains another  of  Grant's  burning  sentences  like  the 
eloquent  epigram  uttered  at  Donelson:  "I  propose  to 
fight  it  out  on  this  line  if  it  takes  all  summer." 

Grant  was  fighting  with  a  quiet  determination  which 
left  no  doubt  of  his  ultimate  success.  There  was  no 
spirit  of  boastfulness  manifest  in  this  famous  dispatch. 
What  he  said  was  simply  a  reaffirmation  of  his  purpose 
to  make  Richmond  fall  by  crushing  Lee's  army.  His 
audacity  was  sublime  and  a  good  example  of  this  is 
found  in  his  dispatch  to  the  War  Department  on  Tues- 
day the  10th  of  May :  "Please  have  supplies  of  forage 
and  provisions  sent  at  once,  and  fifty  rounds  of  ammuni- 
tion for  one  hundred  thousand  men." 

There  was  no  fighting  on  Wednesday.  It  was  a  day 
of  preparation  for  one  of  the  most  furious  battles  of  the 
war.  Although  the  army  had  fought  almost  continu- 
ously since  it  crossed  the  Rapidan  eight  days  before,  it 
was  ready  to  contend  again  with  the  enemy  on  Thursday 
for  the  possession  of  Spottsylvania. 

On  Wednesday  afternoon  Grant  ordered  Hancock 
to  move  his  corps  to  the  front  of  the  right  center  of 


THE  RACE  TO  SPOTTSYLVAXIA—THE  BATTLE       231 

Lee's  intrenchments  where  was  located  the  famous 
salient — a  part  of  the  works  which  projected  outward — 
a  position  difficult  to  assault,  and  because  of  this  diffi- 
culty the  business  of  capturing  it  was  assigned  to  the 
gallant  commander  of  the  Second  corps.  In  darkness 
and  through  storm  on  Wednesday  night  Hancock 
quietly  moved  his  men  to  a  position  not  more  than 
twelve  hundred  yards  from  the  insolent  salient  whose 
face  line  was  over  two  miles  in  length. 

Grant's  order,  issued  through  Meade,  was  that 
Hancock  should  make  the  assault  at  four  o'clock  Thurs- 
day morning.  He  was  to  be  supported  by  Burnside  of 
the  Ninth  corps,  and  Warren  and  Wright  of  the  Fifth 
and  Sixth  corps  were  to  hold  themselves  in  readiness  to 
assist  if  emergency  required  it.  The  ground  over  which 
Hancock  had  to  pass  to  reach  the  enemy  was  ascending 
and  heavily  wooded  to  within  two  or  three  hundred 
yards  of  the  breastworks.  The  storming  column  rushed 
over  the  intrenchment  with  loud  cheers.  "A  desperate 
hand-to-hand  conflict  took  place.  The  men  of  the  two 
sides  were  too  close  together  to  fire,  but  used  their  guns 
as  clubs" ;  and  so  terrific  was  the  death-grapple  that  at 
different  times  of  the  day  the  Confederate  colors  were 
planted  on  the  one  side  of  the  works  and  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  on  the  other.  The  angle  of  the  works  at  which 
Hancock  entered,  and  for  which  the  savage  fight  of  the 
day  was  made,  was  a  perfect  Golgotha.  In  this  angle 
of  death  the  dead  and  wounded  Confederates  lay  liter- 
ally in  piles — men  in  the  agonies  of  death  groaning 


232  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

beneath  the  dead  bodies  of  their  comrades.  On  one  of 
the  few  acres  in  the  rear  of  their  position  lay  not  less 
than  one  thousand  Confederate  corpses. 

Before  it  was  breakfast-time  on  Thursday,  the  12th, 
Hancock  had  captured  two  Confederate  generals,  4,000 
prisoners,  many  colors,  several  thousand  stand  of  arms, 
and  between  30  and  40  cannon;  but  the  climax  of  as- 
tonishment was  reached  when,  the  hand-to-hand  fight 
over,  Hancock  "turned  the  guns  of  the  enemy  against 
him." 

Nothing  during  the  war  had  equalled  the  savage 
desperation  of  this  struggle,  which  continued  for  more 
than  fourteen  hours;  and  the  history  of  the  day  after 
six  o'clock  in  the  morning  may  be  summed  up  in  a  few 
words.  Lee's  whole  army  flung  itself  in  five  desperate 
efforts  to  recapture  the  works  he  had  lost,  but  every 
assault  met  a  bloody  repulse. 

General  Francis  A.  Walker,  Assistant  Adjutant 
General  of  the  Second  Corps,  gives  this  description  of 
Thursday's  battle: 

"Never  before,  since  the  discovery  of  gunpowder, 
had  such  a  mass  of  lead  been  hurled  into  a  space  so 
narrow  (the  apex  of  the  salient)  as  that  which  now 
embraced  the  scene  of  combat.  Large  standing  trees 
were  literally  cut  off  and  brought  to  the  ground  by  in- 
fantry fire  alone.  ...  If  any  comparison  can  be 
made  between  the  sections  involved  in  that  desperate 
contest,  the  fiercest  and  deadliest  fighting  took  place  at 
the  West  angle  ever  afterward  known  as  'The  Bloody 


THE  RACE  TO  8POTT8YLVANIA—THE  BATTLE      233 

Angle.'  Here  Wright's  corps  had  taken  post  on  coming 
up  at  six  o'clock.  So  furious  were  the  enemy's  charges 
at  this  point  that  Wright,  with  two  fresh  divisions,  was 
fain  soon  to  call  for  reinforcements." 

"All  day,"  says  Walker,  "the  bloody  work  went  on 
and  still  the  men  of  the  North  and  of  the  South,  now 
wrought  to  an  inexpressible  rage,  were  not  gorged  with 
slaughter.  The  trenches  they  had  were  then  at  once  to 
be  cleared  of  the  dead  to  give  the  living  a  place  to  stand. 
All  day  long  and  even  into  the  night,  the  battle  lasted, 
for  it  was  not  till  12  o'clock,  nearly  20  hours  after  the 
command  'Forward'  had  been  given  that  the  firing 
died  down."* 


*  It  is  worth  while  to  take  note  of  the  gallantry  and  sacrifice  of 
some  of  the  troops  engaged  in  the  battle  on  Thursday,  May  12th. 
The  Fifteenth  New  Jersey,  in  the  Sixth  corps,  crossed  the  Rapidan, 
May  4th,  with  444  effective  men.  It  lost  but  few  in  the  Wilderness, 
but  Spottsylvania  consumed  twenty-six  per  cent,  of  those  engaged. 
When  Thursday  brought  an  end  to  the  slaughter,  the  Fifteenth  had 
only  five  officers  and  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  men  available  for 
duty.  One  hundred  and  sixteen  members  of  the  444  lost  their  lives 
in  three  days,  and  eighty  died  at  the  Bloody  Angle  on  Thursday.  In 
proportion  to  the  number  of  men  engaged,  this  was  next  to  the 
heaviest  loss  sustained  by  any  regiment  during  the  Civil  War.  The 
only  exception  was  the  First  Minnesota  infantry  at  Gettysburg.  On 
Thursday  afternoon,  July  2nd,  while  "patching  up"  a  second  line  of 
battle,  Hancock  said  to  Colonel  Colville  of  the  First,  "Do  you  see  those 
colors?  Take  them."  The  colors  were  taken  by  the  regiment  in  a 
few  minutes,  but  of  the  262  men  engaged  in  the  charge,  74  died  in 
the  shower  of  bullets,  the  mortality  being  28  per  cent,  the  highest  on 
record.  The  greatest  loss  of  life  in  any  one  brigade  during  the  war 
was  in  the  Vermont  brigade  of  Getty's  division  of  the  Sixth  corps, 
composed  wholly  of  Vermont  troops.  Within  a  week,  In  the  Wilder- 
ness and  at  Spottsylvania,  it  lost  266  killed  and  1,299  wounded. 
While  the  First  division  of  Hancock's  famous  Second  corps  lost  more 
in  killed  and  wounded  than  any  other  division  In  the  Union  army — 
the  loss  was  14,011 — it  seems  to  have  been  ordained  that  General 
Getty's  Second  division  of  the  Sixth  corps  should  lose  more  men  in 


234  ORAUT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

Thursday  at  Spottsylvania  will  be  ever  memorable 
in  history  as  one  of  Grant's  many  remarkable  achieve- 
ments. The  strain  upon  him  was  not  less  severe  than 
on  Sunday  at  Shiloh  when,  with  marvellous  physical 
and  mental  endurance,  he  completely  thwarted  the  pur- 
poses of  Johnston  and  Beauregard  in  bringing  on  that 
battle.  He  personally  assumed  full  responsibility  in 
adopting  plans  to  reach  the  quaking  capital  of  the  Con- 
federacy, leaving  to  Meade  only  the  execution  of  the 
minor  details.  He  wrote  his  own  orders  for  battle,  and 
many  times  his  orders  in  battle.  In  a  great  emergency 
he  wanted  no  intermediary.  He  did  his  own  thinking, 
for  no  one  else  could  think  for  him.  He  was  sure  that  he 
stood  on  solid  ground  when  he  obeyed  the  dictates  of  his 
own  judgment.  He  anchored  his  soul  to  one  fact,  that 
his  strength  lay  in  his  faith  and  purpose,  and  therefore, 
on  Thursday,  he  rode  continuously  from  wing  to  wing  of 
the  blazing  line  that  he  might  know  from  personal  ob- 
servation if  all  were  well  with  the  army.  It  was  a 
strange  sight  to  see  the  "mysterious  little  man  early  in 
the  morning,  standing  beside  a  fire  that  was  almost 
quenched  by  the  rain,  within  sound  of  the  musketry,  re- 
ceiving reports  and  directing  the  battle,  but  unable  to 
perceive  any  of  its  movement,  because  shut  out  by  trees." 

Once  a  friend  said  to  Grant,  "I  have  often  wondered 
whether  you  ever  slept  during  the  terrible  strain  in  the 
wilderness  and  Spottsylvania."  To  which  the  General 

one  battle  in  killed  and  wounded  than  any  other  division  in  the  war — 
its  casualties  in  the  Wilderness  on  the  5th  and  6th  of  May  being 
480  killed  and  2,318  wounded — a  total  of  2,798. 


GENERAL  GRANT  IN  THE  WILDERNESS  CAMPAIGN. 
[From  McClurc's  Magazine.] 


THE  RAGE  TO  SPOTTSYLVANIA— THE  BATTLE      235 

answered:    "When  I  had  made  my  plans  for  the  next 
day  I  slept  very  peacefully,  always." 

Grant  was  an  inspiring  force  to  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac,  which  reflected  the  spirit  of  the  Com- 
mander-in-chief. A  representative  of  the  New  York 
Evening  Post  was  on  the  battle  field  at  Spottsylvania, 
and  in  a  dispatch  to  the  paper  he  said :  "The  confidence 
of  the  army  in  Grant  exceeds  anything  ever  before  wit- 
nessed in  this  field.  Every  soldier  religiously  and 
solemnly  believes  that  the  Lieutenant  General  means  to 
smash  the  rebellion,  and  that  he  will  do  it ;  and  they  tell 
with  gusto  of  the  novel  methods  he  adopts  to  bring  every 
man  squarely  up  to  the  spirit  of  his  own  high  purpose." 

On  the  night  preceding  Thursday's  awful  battle, 
Grant  went  out  to  the  line  of  skirmishers,  and  passing 
slowly  along,  encouraged  the  men  with  generous  praise. 
He  said  to  them  in  a  voice  filled  with  kindness :  "Boys, 
you  have  never  had  a  fair  chance  at  these  Johnny  rebs, 
and  I  mean  that  you  shall  have  it.  You  can  whip  them, 
I  am  sure  you  can,  and  we  will  try  it  in  the  morning." 
The  men  cheered,  and  the  story  flying  from  regiment  to 
regiment,  sent  every  soldier  into  the  battle  with  the 
faith  in  their  leader,  and  a  confidence  in  themselves 
which  made  them  perfectly  irresistible. 

The  same  devouring,  unwearied  energy  Grant  dis- 
played in  pressing  the  enemy  at  Vicksburg,  Chatta- 
nooga, and  the  Wilderness,  was  shown  at  Spottsylvania, 
where  he  had  gained  an  advantage.  Speaking  of  the 
results  at  this  time  Horace  Greeley  said:  "Not  a  mo- 


236  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

ment's  rest — a  battle  in  the  morning,  a  victory,  the 
enemy  retreating,  a  pursuit — events  succeeding  each 
other  by  a  law  as  irresistible  as  gravitation — a  law 
which  the  little  man  of  iron  will  imposes  on  the  day." 
The  crashing  of  masses  against  masses,  which  had  gone 
on  for  days,  did  slowly,  but  surely — surely  as  the  inexor- 
able fate  which  Lee's  proud  army  found  in  the  uncon- 
querable will  of  the  silent  man — tell  against  the  Confed- 
erate foe.  Inch  by  inch,  and  acre  by  acre,  the  ground 
upon  which  they  stood  was  wrenched  from  their  desper- 
ate hold.  There  was  nothing  more  absolutely  evident 
after  Thursday  than  that  Grant  would  some  day  compel 
the  surrender  of  Lee's  army. 

When  Leslie  Stephens,  the  noted  English  author  and 
critic,  visited  this  country  shortly  after  the  general 
election  in  1868,  he  met  several  distinguished  Ameri- 
cans, and  in  giving  a  characterization  of  some  of  them, 
he  said  of  Grant :  "If  I  were  to  knock  my  head  against 
Grant's  it  would  be  like  rapping  it  against  hard  Scotch 
granite."  This  well  illustrates  the  kind  of  rapping  Lee 
got  from  the  time  he  met  Grant  in  the  Wilderness,  and 
this  is  why  the  former  was  compelled  to  retire  to  a  fresh 
position  in  the  rear  of  that  previously  occupied  and 
strongly  intrenched  at  Spottsylvania.  The  energy  and 
constancy  with  which  Grant  pursued  Lee  is  quaintly 
told  in  the  language  of  a  Confederate  officer  captured 
in  Hancock's  assault  on  Thursday :  "Has  your  General 
Grant  got  no  heart  at  all  ?  He  fights  all  the  while  as 


TEE  RACE  TO  SPOTTSYLVAXIA—THE  BATTLE       237 

though  there  was  nothing  else  in  the  world  for  him  to 
do." 

The  summing  up  of  the  whole  situation  to  the  close 
of  Spottsylvania  can  be  done  in  five  words — Lee  falling 
back,  Grant  advancing. 


XXX. 

THE  DEADLY  ASSAULT  AT  COLD  HARBOR. 

HEN  Grant  had  fought  four  hard  bat- 
tles— two  in  the  Wilderness  and  two  at 
Spottsylvania — he  seemed  to  despair  of 
having  an  opportunity  to  meet  Lee  in  an 
open  field  where  the  advantage  of  position  and  other 
conditions  would  be  nearly  equal.  He  therefore  deter- 
mined to  leave  Lee  at  Spottsylvania,  and  make  a  flank 
movement,  and  thereby  press  his  way  towards  Rich- 
mond. 

The  rain  which  began  during  the  battle  of  Thursday, 
the  12th,  continued  till  Tuesday,  the  17th ;  and  the  mud 
being  hub-deep,  it  was  almost  impossible  to  move  artil- 
lery or  supply  trains.  In  the  meantime,  Grant  was  ex- 
pecting reinforcements  from  Washington,  the  army  hav- 
ing had  no  accessions  since  it  moved  from  Culpeper, 
while  its  depletion  to  May  21st,  in  killed,  wounded,  and 
missing,  was  27,500. 

It  was  at  this  period  in  the  campaign  that  the  reports 


THE  DEADLY  ASSAULT  AT  COLD  HARBOR         239 

from  other  portions  of  the  great  army  under  his  com- 
mand were  a  surprise  and  disappointment  to  Grant. 
Sigel  had  been  defeated  at  New  Market,  near  Peters- 
burg. Butler  had  been  driven  from  Drury's  Bluff,  six 
miles  south  from  Richmond.  And  worst  of  all  was  the 
miserable  failure  of  Banks'  Red  River  expedition,  a 
movement  which  should  never  have  been  made.  While 
all  this  was  quite  discouraging,  especially  to  the  Ad- 
ministration, Grant's  philosophy  taught  him  that  it  was 
no  time  to  repine,  and  he  nerved  himself  to  the  business 
of  directing  a  movement  of  the  Potomac  army  by  the 
left  flank  towards  Richmond.  An  advance  was  ordered 
at  midnight,  May  20th,  the  objective  point  being  the 
crossing  of  the  North  Anna  river,  fifteen  miles  south- 
ward. It  was  always  Grant's  purpose  to  give  Lee  an 
opportunity  to  fight  a  square  battle  outside  of  intrench- 
ments,  but  Lee,  having  had  two  weeks'  experience  with 
his  antagonist,  preferred  not  to  meet  him  in  an  open  con- 
flict. When  Grant  began  his  march  on  the  night  of  the 
20th,  he  left  Wright  and  Burnside,  of  the  Sixth  and 
Ninth  corps,  "to  keep  up  the  appearance  of  an  intended 
assault,  and  to  hold  Lee,  if  possible,  in  Spottsylvania 
while  Hancock  and  Warren  should  get  start  enough  to 
interpose  between  him  and  Richmond."  "Lee  had  now  a 
superb  opportunity,"  says  Grant,  "to  take  the  initiative 
either  by  attacking  Wright  and  Burnside  alone,  or  by 
following  the  Telegraph  road  and  striking  Plancock's 
and  Warren's  corps,  or  even  Hancock's  alone,  before 
reinforcements  could  come  up;  but  he  did  neither. 


240  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

.  *T-  .  He  seemed  really  to  be  misled  by  my  designs. 
..  -,  .  He  never  again  had  such  an  opportunity  of 
dealing  a  heavy  blow." 

Lee,  finally  discovering  that  Grant  was  moving  in  the 
direction  of  North  Anna,  immediately  left  his  intrench- 
ments,  and  having  the  inside,  and  shorter  lines,  was  able 
to  place  his  entire  army  south  of  the  North  Anna  before 
Grant  could  reach  the  river,  and  here  he  intrenched. 
When  Grant  arrived  at  the  river  he  captured  the  outer 
works  on  the  24th  of  May,  but  on  the  25th  the  attempt 
of  the  Second  corps  to  take  the  main  works,  which  were 
almost  impregnable,  failed;  and  rather  than  slaughter 
his  men  when  the  chances  of  success  were  against  him, 
Grant  determined  on  another  left  flank  movement,  and 
as  before — towards  Richmond.  If  the  advantage  of 
fighting  or  not  fighting  were  evenly  balanced  between 
the  two  armies,  Grant  was  sure  to  fight,  but  in  this  in- 
stance, the  advantage  being  altogether  in  favor  of  the 
enemy,  he  decided  to  outwit  him. 

Before  springing  another  surprise  on  Lee,  Grant 
sent  a  dispatch  to  Halleck  in  which  he  said  that  there 
could  not  be  a  battle  with  the  enemy  outside  his  in- 
trenchments.  He  then  adds :  "I  may  be  mistaken,  but  I 
feel  that  our  success  over  Lee's  army  is  already  assured. 
The  promptness  and  rapidity  with  which  you  have  for- 
warded reinforcements  have  contributed  largely  to  the 
feeling  of  confidence  in  our  men,  and  to  break  down 
that  of  the  enemy."  "Nothing,"  say  Nicolay  and  Hay, 
in  their  life  of  Lincoln,  "like  this  had  ever  before  been 


THE  DEADLY  ASSAULT  AT  COLD  HARBOR         241 

received  from  a  commander  of  the  Army  of  the  Poto- 
mac. A  man  was  now  in  charge  of  affairs  who  respected 
the  Government  behind  him  more  than  the  enemy  in 
front." 

On  Tuesday  night,  May  26th,  Grant  recrossed  the 
North  Anna,  and  in  this  movement  he  showed  himself 
master  of  one  of  the  most  difficult  branches  of  military 
science — that  of  moving  great  bodies  of  troops  with 
rapidity  and  precision.  By  Saturday  night  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  was  within  twelve  miles  of  Richmond.  It 
had  marched  over  thirty  miles  in  less  than  three  days, 
moved  its  supply  trains  of  4,000  wagons,  and  crossed 
two  rivers  in  the  face  of  the  enemy.  All  the  while 
Grant  was  unaware  of  the  enemy's  retreat  from 
the  North  Anna;  and  Lee  did  not  learn  of  the  flank 
movement  until  the  27th.  Though  greatly  embarrassed 
by  the  necessity  of  providing  against  surprise,  Grant 
moved  his  vast  forces  the  thirty  miles — which  under  the 
circumstances,  was,  up  to  that  time,  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable movements  ever  made  by  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac.  It  was  a  hazardous  piece  of  strategy,  but  not 
too  hazardous  for  Grant's  unbridled  genius  and  de- 
termined courage. 

This  was  another  of  Grant's  incomprehensible 
movements  which  bothered  Lee,  and  being  made  with- 
out his  knowledge  or  molestation,  it  called  from  Lincoln 
the  quaint  remark  that  "Grant  had  again  climbed  up 
garret  and  pulled  the  ladder  after  him." 

Grant's  objective  point  was  Cold  Harbor,  the  key  to 


242  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

Richmond  on  the  north  line  of  the  approach.  It  was 
the  point  of  convergence  of  all  the  roads  radiating 
either  to  Richmond  or  to  the  White  House,  his  then 
base  of  supplies.  The  importance  of  Cold  Harbor  was 
fully  appreciated  by  the  enemy,  and  several  days  before 
Grant  began  to  move  in  that  direction,  one  of  the  Rich- 
mond papers  said  in  a  witty  prophecy  in  reference  to 
his  favorite  tactics :  "Grant  has  grown  so  enamored  of 
his  left  flank  that  he  will  probably  work  his  way  down 
towards  the  James  river,  and  we  shall  have  another 
decisive  battle  of  Cold  Harbor."  By  this  the  paper 
meant  what  the  Federals  called  the  battle  of  Games' 
Mills — that  having  been  the  position  held  by  Fitz-John 
Porter's  corps  in  the  battle  of  June  27th,  1862,  while 
Cold  Harbor  was  held  by  Stonewall  Jackson. 

The  juncture  of  the  North  Anna  and  South  Anna 
rivers,  a  few  miles  below  the  point  where  Grant  as- 
saulted Lee's  intrenchments  on  the  24th  and  25th  of 
May,  forms  the  Pamunkey,  and  in  moving  southward  he 
crossed  the  river  near  Hanover  Town.  When  he  placed 
his  army  on  the  south  side  of  the  Pamunkey,  Grant  had 
accomplished  his  third  successful  flank  movement,  and 
was  within  twelve  miles  of  the  Confederate  capital. 

Cold  Harbor  is  six  or  seven  miles  southwest  of  the 
Pamunkey  crossing,  and  was  then  occupied  only  by  a 
small  force  of  the  enemy.  But  when  he  discovered  that 
the  army  of  the  Potomac  was  moving  towards  that  point, 
Lee  rapidly  began  to  concentrate  his  forces  in  that  direc- 
tion, and,  as  usual,  having  the  interior  lines  his  route 


THE  DEADLY  ASSAULT  AT  COLD   HARBOR         243 

was  several  miles  shorter  than  Grant's.  Sheridan  had 
occupied  Cold  Harbor,  from  which  he  had  repulsed 
the  Confederate  cavalry,  and  was  instructed  to  hold 
it  till  the  infantry  could  relieve  him.  But  accidents 
are  common  in  war,  and  usually  occur  at  a  most 
critical  moment;  and  two  incidents  changed  the  for- 
tunes of  the  Union  Army  at  Cold  Harbor.  "Baldy" 
Smith's  Eighteenth  Corps  was  ordered  from  White 
House  to  Cold  Harbor,  a  distance  of  twenty-five  miles. 
But  by  a  blunder,  which  directed  him  to  Newcastle  in- 
stead of  Cold  Harbor,  he  did  not  reach  his  destination 
until  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  June  1st,  while 
he  was  expected  in  the  morning,  and  by  that  time  his 
12,500  men  were  worn  out  by  their  long  and  dusty 
march.  This  error,  misdirecting  Smith,  came  from 
Grant's  headquarters,  and  was  not  discovered  until 
Smith  had  marched  several  miles  out  of  his  way,  when 
Grant  hastened  a  staff  officer  to  correct  it.  But  valuable 
hours,  sufficient  to  change  the  fate  of  a  battle,  had  been 
lost  in  the  counter  march.  Wright's  Sixth  and  Smith's 
Eighteenth  corps  were  pushed  to  the  Harbor,  and  on 
June  1st  relieved  the  gallant  Sheridan  from  his  perilous 
position. 

At  six  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  first  assault  was 
made  by  Wright  and  Smith,  and  a  portion  of  the  outer 
works  was  captured  including  several  hundred  prison- 
ers ;  but  the  second  line  of  works  was  too  formidable  for 
the  two  corps  to  attack  with  success.  Meade  directed 
Hancock,  who  was  on  the  extreme  right,  to  hasten  to  the 


244  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

relief  of  Wright  and  Smith,  and  as  the  commander  of 
the  Second  corps  had  never  failed  in  any  great  exi- 
gency, he  would  not  have  failed  at  this  time  had  it 
not  been  for  an  error  committed  by  an  officer  of  the 
engineer  corps  on  Heade's  staff.  General  Francis  A. 
Walker,  assistant  adjutant  general  on  Hancock's  staff, 
makes  the  following  comment  on  the  costly  error  in  his 
History  of  the  Second  Corps,  but,  presumably  for  char- 
ity's sake,  he  omits  the  name  of  the  engineer :  "Meade's 
order  for  Hancock  to  move  promptly  would  have  been 
fully  carried  out  had  it  not  been  for  the  error  of  his  staff 
officer,  who  undertook  to  conduct  the  column  by  a  short 
cut  through  a  wood  road.  After  moving  for  some  dis- 
tance the  road  was  found  to  narrow  gradually,  until 
finally  the  guns  were  fairly  caught  between  the  trees 
and  unable  to  move.  In  the  darkness  much  confusion 
arose  throughout  the  column,  and  the  troops  became 
mixed  to  a  degree  which  made  it  difficult  to  straighten 
them  out  again.  The  night  had  been  intensely  hot  and 
breathless,  and  the  march  through  roads  deep  with  dust, 
which  arose  in  suffocating  clouds — which  occurred 
through  the  wrong  direction  given  to  the  column — put  it 
out  of  General  Hancock's  power  to  reach  the  left  of  the 
line  at  Cold  Harbor  at  daybreak  on  Thursday,  the  2nd." 
The  importance  of  holding  Cold  Harbor  was  as  keenly 
realized  by  Grant  as  by  Lee,  and  therefore  he  designed 
to  give  battle  on  Thursday  morning,  but  the  lateness  of 
Hancock's  arrival  defeated  his  plans,  and  the  hour  fixed 


THE  DEADLY  ASSAULT  AT  COLD  HARBOR         245 

for  a  final  assault  was  on  Friday  morning,  June  3rd,  at 
half-past  four  o'clock. 

The  assault  was  made  by  the  Second,  Sixth,  and 
Eighteenth  corps.  The  men  plunged  into  that  raging 
hell  of  fire  in  the  effort  to  drive  the  enemy  from  the  pits. 
Much  of  the  fighting  was  done  within  one  hundred  yards 
of  each  other.  The  two  lines  were  swayed  backward 
and  forward  under  each  other's  blazing  fire.  It  would 
require  many  pages  to  individualize  the  examples  of 
courage  and  sacrifice  among  the  officers  and  men  of  the 
assaulting  corps.  Men  fell  by  the  many  hundreds  in  a 
few  minutes.  The  third  greatest  loss  sustained  by  any 
regiment  in  a  single  battle  during  the  war  in  proportion 
to  the  number  engaged,  was  in  this  attack.  The  Twenty- 
fifth  Massachusetts  in  the  Eighteenth  corps,  with  310 
men,  went  into  battle  with  splendid  energy,  and  in  fif- 
teen minutes  74  officers  and  men  went  down  to  death  and 
122  were  wounded.  The  regimental  line  seemed  to  melt 
away  before  the  terrific  fire  from  the  enemy's  pits.  It 
was  a  pathetic  scene  when,  on  Saturday  morning,  only 
4  officers  and  62  men  of  the  Twenty-fifth  answered  to 
the  regimental  roll  call. 

When  the  first  terrible  climax  of  battle  was  over,  the 
cold  fact  confronted  all  the  commanders  that  the  strong 
intrenchments  of  the  enemy,  and  the  approaches  to  his 
lines  being  exceedingly  difficult,  made  any  further  at- 
tack a  needless  waste  of  life.  Therefore,  two  hours  and 
a  half  after  the  assault  was  made,  Grant  gave  Meade 
orders  to  suspend  the  offensive  the  moment  it  became 


246  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

certain  that  a  second  assault  would  be  unsuccessful. 

The  question  uppermost  in  the  mind  of  Meade  and 
all  other  commanders  was;  would  Grant  renew  the 
assault?  But  to  those  looking  into  the  face  of  the 
mysterious  Commander-in-chief  for  an  answer  to  this 
momentous  inquiry  "there  was  no  legible  response. 
His  was  a  face  which  tells  no  tales — a  face  impassive  in 
victory  or  defeat,  a  face  of  stone — a  sphinx-face !" 

Grant's  calm  and  instinctive  judgment  presided 
amidst  the  most  horrible  confusion.  He  appreciated 
fully  the  enormity  of  the  loss  of  life  and  the  suffering 
of  the  thousands  of  wounded  men.  But  the  army  was 
there  to  fight;  and  believing  in  the  old  adage  that  the 
man  is  thrice  armed  who  has  his  quarrel  just,  Grant 
could  say  emphatically  that  he  proposed  to  fight  it  out 
on  that  line.  From  the  manoeuvers  of  previous  com- 
manders on  the  Potomac,  the  idea  prevailed  in  Lee's 
army  that  the  Rapidan  was  the  limit  of  Union  advance ; 
and  therefore,  after  the  severe  repulse  at  Cold  Harbor, 
Lee  supposed  that  Grant  had  exhausted  his  courage  and 
hope  and  would  retreat  northward.  But  Grant  was  on 
the  south  of  the  Rapidan  to  fight  his  battle  of  faith,  and 
not  to  return  until  victory  was  won.  He  was  preparing 
to  furnish  Lee  one  of  the  greatest  surprises  of  the  war. 

Fighting  ceased  at  Cold  Harbor  at  seven-thirty 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  during  the  forenoon  Grant 
visited  the  corps  commanders  to  see  for  himself  "the 
different  positions  gained,  and  to  receive  their  opinions 
as  to  the  practicability  of  doing  anything  more  in  their 


THE  DEADLY  ASSAULT  AT  COLD  HARBOR         247 

respective  fronts."  All  except  Warren  of  the  Fifth 
corps  thought  nothing  more  could  be  done,  and  thus 
ended  the  battle  of  Cold  Harbor.* 

The  assault  on  the  morning  of  the  3d  of  June  has 
been  so  unsparingly  condemned  by  certain  military 
critics  and  so  frankly  acknowledged  by  Grant  himself 
to  have  been  in  error,  that  Nicolay  and  Hay  say,  "we  are 
apt  to  lose  sight  of  the  motive  which  prompted  it.  The 
right  and  left  wings  of  Lee's  army  were  unassailable 
from  the  nature  of  the  ground ;  the  front  only  appeared 
possible  to  attack.  Grant  was  unwilling  to  go  to  the 
south  of  the  James  without  one  more  attempt  to  accom- 
plish the  purpose  with  which  he  had  opened  the  cam- 
paign. .  .  .  If  he  had  succeeded  at  Cold  Harbor 
he  might  have  achieved  that  great  result.  He  knew  the 
task  was  difficult — it  proved  to  be  impossible." 

It  ought  to  be  remembered  that  as  a  rule  the  general 
who  prosecutes  an  offensive  campaign  suffers  greater 
losses  than  the  enemy.  Grant  was  always"  aggressive. 
It  was  not  possible  with  him  that  retreat,  or  any  inac- 
tion could  form  any  part  of  his  programme.  But  while 


*  Grant's  losses  from  the  day  he  entered  the  Wilderness  to  the 
beginning  of  his  famous  left  flank  movement  from  Cold  Harbor,  June 
12,  1864,  are  given  by  the  Adjutant  General  of  the  United  States 
Army  as  follows : 

Wilderness— May  5th  to  the  7th,  killed,  2,261;  wounded,  8,785; 
missing,  2,902 — aggregate,  13,948.  Spottsylvania — May  8th  to  the 
21st,  killed,  2,271 ;  wounded,  9,360 ;  missing,  1,970 — aggregate  13,601. 
North  Anna  and  vicinity — May  23d  to  the  31st,  killed,  285 ;  wounded, 
1,150 ;  missing,  217 — aggregate,  1,652.  Cold  Harbor — June  1st  to  the 
12th,  killed,  1,769 ;  wounded,  6,752 ;  missing,  1,537 — aggregate,  10,058. 
The  total  losses  in  the  thirty-nine  days  were  killed,  6,586,  wounded, 
26,047,  missing,  6,626 — aggregate,  39,259. 


248 

the  campaign  from  Culpeper  to  Cold  Harbor  was  boldly, 
even  daringly  offensive,  it  was  so  conducted  that  in 
nearly  every  conflict  the  enemy  was  obliged  to  become 
the  attacking  party;  and  this  plan  of  campaigning 
against  Lee  recalls  this  colloquy  between  two  Roman 
generals :  "If  thou  are  a  great  general,  come  down  and 
fight  me."  "If  thou  are  a  great  general  make  me  come 
down  and  fight  thee."  And  it  will  be  observed  that 
four  times  out  of  five — for  the  army  had  fought  on 
five  distinct  lines — Grant,  by  a  single  march,  had  made 
Lee  come  down  and  fight  him. 

No  other  plan  than  that  adopted  could  have  suc- 
ceeded; or,  to  alter  a  characteristic  phrase  from  Stan- 
ton,  Gabriel  would  have  been  blowing  his  last  horn  be- 
fore the  old  tactics  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  could 
have  forced  the  surrender  of  Lee  and  his  army. 

Swinton,  who  wrote  much  about  the  war,  was  by  no 
means  a  partisan  of  Grant,  but  speaking  of  the  mystery 
of  his  movements  up  to  Cold  Harbor,  he  said :  "It  is  a 
fact  which  you  may  not  have  thought  of,  that  Grant,  in 
his  advance  on  Richmond,  has  crossed  every  line  of 
operations  that  has  ever  been  planned  with  Richmond 
as  the  objective.  He  has  adopted  none,  he  has  bisected 
all.  He  is  at  present  on  the  line  of  McClellan's  peninsu- 
lar campaign;  but  will  he  remain  on  it?  May  he  not 
swing  across  that  too  ?"  And  he  did. 

Grant  had  some  cold  and  unjust  critics  in  the  North 
about  this  period  in  his  Virginia  campaign.  Against 
their  efforts  to  lower  public  estimation  of  his  general- 


THE  DEADLY  ASSAULT  AT  COLD  HARBOR         249 

ship,  it  is  a  pleasure  to  note  the  interest  with  which 
many  Europeans  viewed  his  marvellously  aggressive  and 
successful  campaign.  The  London  Times,  the  organ  of 
all  the  tories  of  Europe,  as  well  as  of  England,  could 
not  believe  in  the  possibility  of  Grant's  success.  But 
after  the  Wilderness  battles  it  was  constrained  to  say: 
"Grant  is  invincibly  obstinate,  he  has  uncontrolled  com- 
mand, he  has  exacted  the  unreserved  support  of  his  gov- 
ernment, and  he  has  seen  the  southern  army  retire  be- 
fore him.  He  will  perhaps  renew  his  attacks  upon  Lee, 
but  if  he  ever  reaches  Richmond  with  an  effective  army 
he  will  have  achieved  a  miracle  of  success."  And  when 
the  account  of  the  battles  at  Spottsylvania  had  reached 
the  "Thunderer"  of  British  toryism,  it  was  again  candid 
enough  to  confess  that  while  a  single  day  of  the  battles 
of  Grant  in  Virginia  could  be  easily  matched  or  excelled 
by  the  record  of  battles  in  the  old  world,  there  were 
never  in  the  history  of  man  four  such  battles  fought  as 
those  comprised  in  seven  successive  days  ending  with  the 
12th  of  May. 

So  strangely  did  those  battles  impress  the  public 
mind,  that  the  London  correspondent  of  the  New  York 
Herald  gave  a  clear  idea  of  the  pervading  interest  Avhich 
existed  in  England  relative  to  Grant  as  a  commanding 
military  strategist  and  genius.  The  reputation  of  Lee 
was  so  exalted  in  England  that  any  success  over  him  by 
Grant  was  deemed  marvellous.  In  the  lobby  of  either 
house  of  Parliament,  at  any  club  in  London,  ten  to  one 
the  first  question  asked  would  be:  "Any  news  from 


250  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

America  ?"  or,  "What  do  you  think  of  Lee's  position  ?" 
The  opinions  and  surmises  as  to  Grant's  performances 
and  prospects  were  then  more  candid  and  sensible,  so 
the  correspondent  thought,  than  at  any  time  since  the 
war  began.  No  one  then  cared  to  bring  ridicule  upon 
himself  by  depreciating  Grant's  courage,  strategy,  and 
prospects.  Even  so  great  and  conservative  a  journal  as 
the  London  Spectator  said  if  ever  a  general  was  enti- 
tled to  have  "Victory"  inscribed  on  his  banner,  it  was 
Grant,  for  his  splendid  fighting  from  the  5th  to  the  12th 
of  May.  And  in  addition  to  this,  it  was  the  opinion  of 
an  officer  of  high  standing  in  the  British  army,  that  not 
since  the  art  of  war  was  practised,  was  better  general- 
ship, higher  skill,  or  more  persistent  military  persever- 
ance in  such  circumstances  ever  known  than  that  dis- 
played by  Grant. 

No  estimate  of  Grant's  character  is  more  defective 
than  that  which  represents  him  as  stolid,  indifferent  to 
the  sacrifice  of  human  life,  winning  victories  by  sheer 
dogged  persistence  and  weight  of  numbers.  He  won  his 
battles,  as  all  great  soldiers  have  done,  by  realizing  diffi- 
culties, and  meeting  them  as  best  he  could  with  the  men 
and  guns  at  his  command.  While  the  attack  on  Friday 
morning,  June  3d,  may  be  a  matter  of  legitimate  contro- 
versy, these  facts  must  be  taken  into  account :  "no  oppor- 
tunity had  been  offered  Grant  to  make  an  adequate  re- 
connaissance of  the  line  to  ascertain  whether  it  could  be 
carried  in  front;"  the  consequences  of  a  victory  here 
were  so  momentous  that  he  seemed  to  be  justified  in 


THE  DEADLY  ASSAULT  AT  COLD  HARBOR         251 

hazarding  an  assault;  there  is  no  foundation  for  the 
charge  that  the  attack  was  inspired  by  mad  recklessness 
and  an  insane  determination ;  it  was  the  deliberate  judg- 
ment of  both  Grant  and  Meade  that  the  real  strength  of 
the  enemy's  works  could  be  tested  only  by  a  grand  as- 
sault, and  both  were  unwilling  to  pass  Cold  Harbor  by 
without  a  second  attempt  to  capture  the  works.  Grant 
would  gladly  have  escaped  battle  on  Friday  if  such  a 
thing  were  consistent  with  his  pledge  to  the  President 
and  the  confidence  placed  in  him  by  the  country.  Bloody 
as  was  the  first  month  of  his  campaign  in  Virginia,  it 
was  the  only  road  to  Richmond.* 


*  It  is  the  opinion  of  some  critics  that  Grant  showed  inhumanity 
In  delaying  to  take  proper  care  of  his  wounded  lying  between  the  lines 
of  the  contending  forces.  But  the  official  records  do  not  sustain  this 
condemnatory  opinion.  On  the  morning  of  the  5th,  when  Hancock 
informed  Grant  that  there  were  still  many  wounded  Union  soldiers 
uncared  for  within  the  enemy's  lines,  the  General  at  once  sent  a  flag 
of  truce  to  Lee  asking  permission  to  take  charge  of  the  wounded  and 
bury  the  dead ;  but  It  was  forty-eight  hours  after  Grant's  humane 
proposition  reached  Lee  before  that  officer's  punctiliousness  as  to 
terms  was  satisfied,  and  when  the  lines  were  reached  by  the  parties 
bearing  the  white  flag,  all  but  two  of  the  wounded  were  dead.  For 
the  official  records  relating  to  this  matter  see  Grant's  Memoirs,  and 
the  Rebellion  Records,  Serial  69,  pp.  639-39 ;  and  also  Colonel  Liver- 
more's  contribution  to  the  Military  History,  Society  of  Mass.,  volume 
5,  p.  457. 


XXXI. 

ANOTHER  LEFT  FLANK-HOW  PETERSBURG 
WAS  LOST. 


HE  Richmond  editor  who  said  that  Grant 
was  enamoured  of  his  left  flank  spoke  more 
truthfully  than  he  thought.  It  was  by  these 
left  flank  movements  that  Lee  was  disap- 
pointed and  out-generaled.  When  Grant  crossed  to  the 
south  of  the  Xorth  Anna  it  was  at  a  point  where  Lee 
did  not  expect;  and  when  he  recrossed -the  river  it  was 
at  a  place  where  Lee  was  not  prepared  to  meet  him. 
And  the  greatest  surprise  and  disappointment  came  to 
Lee  when  Grant  left  Cold  Harbor  behind  on  Sunday, 
June  12th,  and  again  took  to  his  left  flank.  Where  was 
he  going?  Lee  did  not  know.  When  was  he  going? 
Lee  did  not  learn  until  the  mysterious  little  general  was 
well  on  his  way  to  the  south  of  the  James. 

General  Edward  P.  Alexander,  chief  of  artillery  of 
Longstreet's  corps,  says  that  the  most  natural  movement 
for  Grant  to  have  made  from  Cold  Harbor  and  the  one 
Lee  expected  him  to  make,  was  that  he  would  merely 


HOW  PETERSBURG  WAS  LOST  253 

cross  the  Chickahominy  and  take  a  position  on  the  north 
bank  of  the  James  at  Malvern  Hill.  But  Grant's  strat- 
egy and  genius  enabled  him  to  formulate  a  movement 
more  prodigious  and  hazardous  than  Lee  believed  him 
capable  of  conceiving  or  executing.  His  fixed  purpose 
was  to  cross  the  James  and  move  against  Petersburg, 
and  General  Alexander  says  this  movement,  more  than 
any  other  incident,  constituted  what  may  be  called  the 
crisis  of  the  war.  In  the  darkness  of  the  night  of  June 
12th,  1864,  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  115,000  strong, 
began  the  most  remarkable  march  in  its  history. 

Grant  decided  to  cross  to  the  south  side  of  the  James 
at  Wilcox's  Landing,  between  forty  and  fifty  miles  from 
Cold  Harbor,  at  about  the  same  distance  in  a  southeast- 
erly direction  from  Richmond ;  and  nearly  twenty  miles 
east  of  Petersburg.  This  strange  movement  was  en- 
tirely out  of  Lee's  observation,  as  Grant  planned  that  it 
should  be,  and  General  Alexander  confesses  that  it  in- 
volved the  performance  of  a  feat  in  transportation  which 
has  never  been  equalled,  and  might  well  be  considered 
impossible  without  days  of  vexatious  delay.  But  the 
army  marched  the  distance  and  crossed  the  James  with- 
out a  mishap,  and  in  the  incredibly  short  space  of  three 
days;  and  while  this  bold  movement  was  being  made, 
Lee,  with  Longstreet's  and  Hill's  corps,  lay  idle  in 
the  woods  on  the  north  side  of  the  James. 

General  Alexander  performed  conspicuous  service  in 
Lee's  command,  and  as  he  is  a  careful  and  candid  critic, 


254  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

his  estimate  of  Grant's  gigantic  scheme  to  deceive  the 
Confederate  commander  by  crossing  to  the  south  of 
the  James  with  such  an  immense  army  is  worth  quoting : 

"The  Fifth,  Sixth,  and  Ninth  corps  on  the  (north) 
bank  of  the  James  awaited  the  construction  of  the  great- 
est bridge  which  the  world  has  seen  since  the  days  of 
Xerxes.  At  the  point  selected  the  river  was  2,100  feet 
wide,  ninety  feet  deep,  and  had  a  rise  and  fall  of  tide  of 
four  feet,  giving  a  very  strong  current.  The  approaches 
having  been  prepared  on  each  side,  construction  was  be- 
gun at  four  o'clock  p.  M.  on  the  14th  of  June  by  Major 
Dunne,  simultaneously  at  both  ends.  (101  pontoons 
formed  the  bridge  which  was  completed  by  General 
Benham).  In  eight  hours  the  bridge  was  finished,  . 
.  .  and  for  forty-eight  hours  the  vast  column  of  ar- 
tillery and  infantry  poured  across  without  cessation, 
and  at  midnight  of  the  16th,  Grant's  entire  army  was 
south  of  the  James." 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  incidents  of  this  re- 
markable movement,  was  the  singular  condition  of  mind 
in  which  it  placed  Lee.  At  this  time  Beauregard  was  at 
Petersburg  defending  it  with  only  a  small  force.  On 
the  15th  of  June  he  reported  to  Lee,  who  was  then  at 
Drury's  Bluff,  south  of  Richmond,  that  Grant  was  ap- 
proaching Petersburg  and  he  begged  for  reinforcements. 
But  Lee  was  so  amazed  by  the  report  that  he  would  not 
believe  it.  Fortunately,  the  Rebellion  Records  put  the 
story  of  Lee's  skepticism  in  an  official  form.  He  tele- 
graphed Beauregard: 


BOW  PETERSBURG  WAS  LOST  255 

"June  16th,  10:30  A.  M.  I  do  not  know  the  position 
of  Grant's  army  and  cannot  strip  the  north  bank  (the 
James)  of  troops." 

Beauregard,  having  had  an  unpleasant  experience 
with  Grant  at  Shiloh,  became  nervous  and  made  another 
plea  for  reinforcements,  to  which  Lee  responded : 

"June  17th,  12  M.  Until  I  get  more  definite  infor- 
mation of  Grant's  movements  I  do  not  think  it  prudent 
to  draw  more  troops  to  this  side  of  the  river." 

But  Beauregard  was  insistent  despite  the  incredulity 
of  Lee,  and  with  promptness  and  energy  he  called  for 
more  reinforcements.  It  was  extremely  difficult  for 
the  astute  commander  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Vir- 
ginia to  imagine  in  what  direction  Grant  had  gone. 
Only  five  days  before,  the  advance  picket  lines  of  the 
contending  armies  were  not  more  than  300  yards  apart ; 
and  for  Grant  to  call  in  his  pickets  and  move  his  great 
army  out  of  the  immediate  presence  of  an  alert  enemy 
and  take  a  line  of  march  unknown  to  Lee  or  any  of  his 
generals,  was  the  most  remarkable  of  all  the  strategic 
movements  of  the  war.  The  bewilderment  in  which 
Lee  was  placed  by  the  report  that  some  of  Grant's  troops 
were  in  front  of  Petersburg,  is  shown  in  his  third  dis- 
patch inquiring  about  Grant,  sent  to  his  son  General 
william  H.  Fitzhugh  Lee,  who  then  had  a  cavalry  com- 
mand at  Malvern  Hill : 

"Clay  House,  June  IT,  1864,  3 :30  p.  M. 

"Push  after  the  enemy  and  endeavor  to  ascertain 


256  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

what  has  become  of  Grant's  army.  Inform  General 
Hill.  R.  E.  LEE." 

Three  hours  after  Beauregard  made  his  third  re- 
quest for  more  troops  he  sent  the  following  doleful  dis- 
patch to  Lee :  "The  increasing  number  of  the  enemy  in 
my  front  .  .  .  will  compel  me  to  fall  back  within 
a  shorter  line  which  I  will  attempt  to-night  ...  I 
may  have  to  evacuate  the  city  (Petersburg)  very  short- 
ly." But  Lee  was  as  hard  to  convince  as  was  doubting 
Thomas.  He  wanted  an  ocular  witness  of  Grant's  army 
having  crossed  the  James  river  before  he  could  believe 
that  such  an  extraordinary  movement  was  possible.  So 
within  an  hour  after  the  dispatch  had  been  sent  his  son, 
Lee  asked  Beauregard :  "Has  Grant  been  seen  crossing 
the  James  ?" 

In  the  meantime  Beauregard  was  putting  forth  all 
his  strength  to  hold  Petersburg  against  the  encroach- 
ment of  the  Federal  forces ;  but  having  lost  some  outer 
lines,  and  no  fresh  troops  coming  to  his  relief,  he  took 
more  radical  measures  to  convince  Lee  that  the  situation 
in  Petersburg  was  becoming  desperate.  General  Alex- 
ander says  that  Beauregard  finally  sent  three  of  his 
staff  officers  to  Lee,  one  after  the  other,  within  two 
hours,  "with  details  about  the  prisoners  captured  from 
different  corps  of  the  Federal  army,  with  stories  told  of 
their  marches  since  leaving  Cold  Harbor  on  the  12th." 
It  was  not  until  after  midnight  of  the  17th,  that  the 
first  staff  officer  found  Lee,  lying  on  the  ground  near 


257 

Drury's  Bluff.  He  "seemed  very  placid,"  says  Alexan- 
der, "and  heard  my  messages,  but  still  said  he 
thought  Beauregard  mistaken  in  supposing  that  any 
large  part  of  Grant's  army  had  crossed  the  river."  Lee 
finally  ordered  reinforcements  to  Petersburg  just  in  the 
nick  of  time  to  save  the  city  from  falling  into  the  hands 
of  the  Union  forces ;  but  it  was  the  persistency  of  Beau- 
regard  in  calling  for  troops  to  defend  Petersburg  that 
gave  truth  to  the  saying  that  he,  and  not  Lee,  saved  the 
Confederacy  from  collapse  in  the  summer  of  1864. 

Grant's  left  flank  movement  across  the  James  was 
his  masterpiece  of  strategy.  Its  boldness  and  brilliancy 
of  conception  have  been  duly  acknowledged  by  the  ablest 
military  critics  of  this  and  other  countries.  While  his 
Vicksburg  campaign  is  regarded  by  some — particularly 
by  General  Alexander — the  most  brilliant  exhibition  of 
strategy  of  the  whole  war,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
Vicksburg  had  its  advantages.  Grant's  army  was  then 
comparatively  small.  He  was  in  personal  command  of 
all  the  troops.  There  was  hardly  a  possibility  that  any 
fatal  blunder  could  be  committed  at  the  very  point  of 
success  as  at  Petersburg.  At  the  latter  place  it  seemed 
impossible  for  the  Commander-in-chief  to  provide 
against  the  mistaken  judgment  of  some  of  his  subordi- 
nates; and  whether  Grant  was  in  any  wise  responsible 
for  any  part  of  the  distressing  failure  and  the  heavy 
losses  in  the  first  attempt  to  capture  Petersburg,  the 
reader  must  judge  for  himself  after  carefully  reading 
both  sides  of  the  controversv. 


258  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

Never  during  the  Civil  War  was  such  a  golden  op- 
portunity presented  to  the  Federal  army  to  win  so  im- 
portant a  victory  at  so  small  a  cost  as  the  capture  of 
Petersburg,  on  the  15th  of  June,  1864.  That  the  city 
was  not  taken  on  that  day,  or  at  least  on  the  16th,  when 
the  Union  forces  were  four  times  greater  in  number 
than  those  of  the  enemy,  was  the  most  grievous  disap- 
pointment that  came  to  Grant  in  his  military  career. 

There  has  been  much  controversy  over  the  loss  of 
Petersburg  at  the  time  referred  to,  and  as  the  reputation 
of  neither  Grant  nor  Meade  would  suffer  by  the  publi- 
cation of  the  facts  bearing  upon  the  subject,  it  is  strange 
on  the  one  hand  that  the  Memoirs  and  most  of  the 
friendly  biographers  of  Grant  have  given  either  a 
meagre  account  thereof  or  have  practically  ignored  it; 
and  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  unfortunate  that  some  of 
Meade's  sympathetic  friends  have  entered  into  the  dis- 
cussion with  a  bias  and  severity  of  temper  not  warranted 
by  the  facts. 

Human  nature  always  craves  for  the  reason  of 
things  which  are  of  importance ;  and  it  is  all-important 
to  know  why  Grant  failed  at  Petersburg,  because  the 
mistakes  and  failures  at  that  time  postponed  the  fall  of 
Richmond  and  the  collapse  of  the  Confederacy,  from 
the  summer  or  autumn  of  1864  to  the  spring  of  1865. 
To  give  the  reader  an  intelligible  account  of  the  dis- 
jointed and  disconnected  affairs  of  the  15th,  and  if  pos- 
sible, to  disentangle  the  widely  varying  statements  con- 
cerning the  events  which  led  to  the  tragedy  immediately 


HOW  PETERSBURG  WAS  LOST  259 

following  the  historic  crossing  of  the  James,  require 
somewhat  expansive  details  for  which  there  is  no  space 
in  this  volume. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  Grant  would  have  been 
pleased  if  the  honor  of  taking  Petersburg  could  have 
fallen  to  the  lot  of  Butler,  who  had  been  unfortunate  in 
his  operations  south  of  Richmond.  On  the  14th  of  June 
Grant  visited  him  at  Bermuda  Hundred  for  the  purpose 
of  directing  an  immediate  attack  against  Petersburg 
with  "Baldy"  Smith's  Eighteenth  corps  (a  part  of  But- 
ler's command).  Butler  then  thought — so  it  is  reported 
— that  "he  could  ride  over  the  enemy's  fortifications  on 
horseback"  without  serious  molestation.  Grant  had  es- 
tablished his  headquarters  at  City  Point,  ten  miles  up 
the  James  from  Wilcox's  Landing,  and  a  few  miles  be- 
low Bermuda  Hundred,  that  he  might  be  at  a  conven- 
ient distance  between  the  commands  of  Meade  and  But- 
ler. 

If  Grant  had  formulated  a  definite  plan  for  the  cap- 
ture of  Petersburg,  he  certainly  did  not  communicate  it 
to  Meade,  nor  does  he  include  it  in  the  Memoirs.  But 
what  followed  after  the  consultation  with  Butler  on  the 
night  of  the  14th  of  June,  I  give  in  Grant's  own  words : 

"I  communicated  to  Meade  in  writing  the  directions 
I  had  given  him  to  cross  Hancock's  corps  at  midnight 
and  push  forward  in  the  morning  (the  15th)  to  Peters- 
burg, halting  them,  however,  at  a  designated  point  until 
they  could  hear  from  Smith.  I  also  informed  Meade 
that  I  had  ordered  rations  for  Hancock's  corps.  .  . 


260  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

The  rations  did  not  reach  him,  however,  and  Hancock, 
while  he  got  all  his  troops  over  during  the  night,  re- 
mained until  half  past  ten  in  the  hope  of  receiving 
them.  He  then  moved  without  them,  and  on  the  road 
received  a  note  from  Smith  asking  him  to  come  on.  This 
seems  to  be  the  first  information  that  Hancock  had  re- 
ceived of  the  fact  that  he  was  to  go  to  Petersburg,  or 
that  anything  particular  was  expected  of  him,  otherwise 
he  would  have  been  there  by  4  o'clock  in  the  afternoon." 

Here  begins  the  misunderstanding  connected  with 
the  ill-fated  June  the  fifteenth.  Grant  says  the  direc- 
tions were  given  to  Meade  in  writing,  while  Badeau, 
Grant's  military  secretary,  in  his  Military  History  of 
TJ.  S.  Grant,  says  the  directions  were  given  in  a  conver- 
sation on  the  night  of  the  14th.  Further,  the  quotation 
from  the  Memoirs  contains  a  seeming  reflection  upon 
Meade,  to  the  effect  that  the  orders  given  him  relative 
to  the  movement  of  the  Second  corps  had  not  been  prop- 
erly communicated  to  Hancock.  When  the  latter  was 
criticised  by  newspaper  correspondents,  and  the  Secre- 
tary of  War,  for  not  reaching  Petersburg  at  an  earlier 
hour  than  6:30  p.  M.  (June  15th),  Meade  said  on  June 
26th:  "Had  Hancock  and  myself  been  apprised  in  time 
of  the  contemplated  movement  against  Petersburg,  and 
the  necessity  of  cooperation,  he  could  have  been  pushed 
much  earlier  to  the  scene  of  operation." 

Although  the  Memoirs  seem  to  involve  Meade  in  an 
error  in  not  communicating  to  Hancock  Grant's  orders 
as  to  his  movement  towards  Petersburg  (the  orders  were 


HOW  PETERSBURG  WAS  LOST  261 

incapable  of  execution),  the  Military  History  of  U.  S. 
Grant,  already  referred  to,  and  which  was  reckoned 
official  by  Grant  himself,  says:  "Hancock  moved  ex- 
actly as  he  had  been  ordered.  .  .  .  Grant  found  no 
fault  with  Meade  or  Hancock,  and  so  informed  them. 
To  the  intimation  that  they  had  not  been  properly  in- 
formed as  to  his  plans  (to  attack  Petersburg)  Grant 
made  no  reply." 

Upon  the  pages  of  history  no  one  can  be  found  with 
a  stronger  sense  of  justice,  mingled  with  rare  wisdom, 
or  who  more  earnestly  and  successfully  endeavored  to 
possess  a  conscience  void  of  offence  towards  his  fellows, 
than  Grant.  He  never  designedly  became  the  author  of 
confusion  or  misunderstanding;  and  this  can  be  justly 
said  of  Meade  during  his  campaign  with  Grant  in  Vir- 
ginia. 

Shortly  after  the  strange  events  of  which  I  am  writ- 
ing, the  Commander-in-chief  paid  deserved  and  glowing 
tributes  to  Meade  and  Hancock  for  their  services  in  the 
Petersburg  campaign,  and  it  is  regrettable  that  those 
tributes,  so  warmly  given  and  so  richly  deserved,  do  not 
appear  on  the  pages  of  the  Memoirs  which  treat  of  the 
attacks  on  that  city.  But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
when  Grant  wrote  the  volumes  which  "breathe  so  much 
sincerity  and  try  as  best  they  can  to  give  the  whole 
truth,"  the  "hand  of  death  was  upon  him  and  he  was 
passing  through  the  furnace  of  pain ;"  and  the  wonder 
is  that  so  few  errors  of  commission  or  omission  are 
found  in  that  great  work.  Those  warm  compliments, 


262  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

uttered  when  the  scene  of  that  terrible  conflict  was  fresh 
in  his  mind,  should  have  been  made  a  part  of  the  chap- 
ter on  Petersburg,  that  full  justice  might  have  been 
done  those  two  brave  soldiers,  who,  like  Grant  himself, 
and  Sherman,  Sheridan,  Warren,  Humphreys,  Raw- 
lins,  Gibbon,  Birney,  and  others,  died  in  the  prime  of 
life  because  of  exhaustion  of  their  vital  forces  during 
the  war. 

The  story  of  the  "misunderstandings  and  miscar- 
ryings"  which  led  to  the  defeat  of  the  main  purpose  of 
the  movement  to  the  south  of  the  James — so  skilfully 
planned  and  brilliantly  executed — is  one  of  the  most 
painful  in  the  Civil  War  history.  Those  who  wish  to 
make  the  attempt  to  clear  from  complication  the  vary- 
ing accounts  of  the  work  of  June  the  fifteenth,  are  re- 
ferred to  the  Military  History  of  U.  S.  Grant ;  Bache's 
and  Pennypacker's  lives  of  Meade ;  The  History  of  the 
Second  Army  Corps  by  General  Francis  A.  Walker, 
assistant  Adjutant  General  of  the  Corps ;  The  Virginia 
Campaign,  '64  and  '65,  by  General  Andrew  A.  Humph- 
reys ;  and  the  official  correspondence,  orders,  and  reports 
in  relation  to  Petersburg,  in  the  Fortieth  volume,  series 
1,  part  2,  of  the  Records  of  the  Rebellion.  To  anyone 
who  is  interested  in  the  lives  of  Grant,  Meade,  and  Han- 
cock and  particularly  in  the  story  of  the  15th  of  June, 
"the  black  Wednesday  in  the  calendar  of  the  gallant 
Hancock  and  his  superb  fighting  corps,"  a  careful  exam- 
ination of  those  authorities  is  worth  while.  Particular 
emphasis  should  be  placed  on  the  testimony  of  Meade, 


HOW  PETERSBURG  WAS  LOST  263 

Hancock,  Humphreys,  and  Walker,  all  of  whom  actively 
participated  in  the  Petersburg  campaign,  especially  as 
the  works  of  the  two  latter  stand  unchallenged  among 
unprejudiced  historians  on  all  material  points. 

"Unfortunately,"  says  General  Walker,  "the  misun- 
derstandings and  mistakes  of  the  15th  were  carried  into 
the  16th  permitting  the  Confederates  to  strengthen  and 
finally  confirm  their  hold  on  Petersburg,  which  the  ex- 
cellent strategy  of  Grant  had,  for  thirty-six  hours, 
placed  fairly  at  the  mercy  of  the  Union  army."  The 
16th  was  the  anniversary  of  the  chief  blunder  of  Napol- 
eon at  Waterloo  which  caused  his  star  of  destiny  to  set 
forever.  While  there  was  no  Grouchy  in  the  Eighteenth 
Corps  or  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  there  were  delays, 
mistakes,  and  disjointed  movements  which  vastly  in- 
creased the  difficulty  of  successfully  assaulting  the  works 
at  Petersburg. 

Circumstances  seemed  strangely  to  combine  against 
the  purposes  of  Grant  and  to  defeat  the  best  laid  plans 
of  Meade  and  Hancock  to  seize  Petersburg,  which  would 
have  resulted  in  driving  Lee  out  of  Virginia.  Between 
the  evening  of  the  15th  and  the  forenoon  of  the  16th, 
the  enemy's  forces  behind  the  works  had  been  augmented 
to  14,000,  and  Meade's  army,  then  up  at  Petersburg, 
was  not  less  than  50,000. 

While  Hancock  was  unacquainted  with  the  real 
character  and  position  of  the  Confederate  works,  and 
had  but  little  time  to  make  a  reconnaissance,  as  early  as 
2  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  16th  he  issued  explicit 


264  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

orders  to  his  division  commanders  to  attack  the  enemy 
in  their  respective  points,  on  or  before  daylight — pre- 
ferably before.  But  fate  seemed  inexorable;  and  "no 
vigorous  effort  appears  to  have  been  made  at  daylight 
to  carry  out  Hancock's  instructions."  The  losses  during 
the  day  were  heavy,  and  darkness  closed  upon  the  scene 
without  any  encouraging  gains  having  been  made. 

A  great  misfortune  of  the  17th — a  day  as  full  of 
discouragement  as  the  15th  or  the  16th — was  the  neces- 
sity of  relieving  Hancock  from  the  command  of  the 
Second  Corps.  After  forty  days  of  continuous  riding 
in  the  saddle,  and  taking  the  lead  in  all  the  bloody  bat- 
tles and  assaults  from  Culpeper  to  Petersburg,  the 
severe  wound  he  had  received  at  Gettysburg  broke  out 
afresh  and  caused  him  intense  suffering,  and  the  com- 
mand of  the  corps  was  temporarily  given  to  General 
Birney. 

Saturday,  the  18th,  saw  the  severest  fighting  of  the 
week.  It  is  claimed  by  the  Confederates  that  on  their 
side  it  was  not  a  day  of  battle,  but  only  one  of  demon- 
stration and  reconnaissance.  "None  of  their  reinforce- 
ments were  engaged,  the  only  fighting  done  having  been 
by  Hoke's  division  and  Wise's  brigade,  who,  under 
Beauregard,  had  already  borne  the  whole  brunt  of  the 
four  days  and  three  nights."  And  General  Alexander 
adds :  "No  army  could  ask  for  a  more  favorable  chance 
to  destroy  its  antagonists  than  was  here  presented  (to 
the  Federals).  Their  whole  army  was  at  hand  and  the 
reinforcements  of  Longstreet's  corps,  even  now  coming 


HOW  PETERSBURG  WAS  LOST  265 

to  Beauregard,  were  not  over  12,000  men  and  were  still 
about  three  to  five  hours  away.  The  little  which  was 
accomplished  during  the  whole  day  is  striking  evidence 
of  the  condition  to  which  the  Federal  army  had  now 
been  reduced." 

Grant  being  at  City  Point  on  Saturday,  Meade  was 
in  command  of  all  the  troops  engaged.  He  had  set  his 
heart  on  capturing  the  city,  and  determined  to  make  one 
supreme  effort  to  succeed.  He  had  some  55,000  men, 
and  behind  the  works  Beauregard  could  not  have  had 
more  than  30,000  up  to  Saturday  noon.  Meade  firmly 
believed  that  with  such  superior  force,  in  a  simultaneous 
movement  of  all  the  corps,  he  would  win.  He  therefore 
ordered  a  general  assault  to  begin  at  precisely  twelve 
o'clock.  But  for  one  reason  or  another  the  commanders 
were  not  prepared  to  make  a  concerted  movement  at  the 
hour  named,  and  the  delay  greatly  inured  to  the  ad- 
vantage of  the  enemy.  While  the  assaults,  made  in  the 
afternoon,  were  vigorous  and  persistent,  though  some- 
what disjointed,  they  failed  to  break  the  enemy's  lines. 
It  was  a  day  of  great  sacrifice ;  and  it  became  apparent 
to  Meade  at  5  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  that  any  further 
attempt  to  assault  the  enemy's  works  would  result  only 
in  a  useless  loss  of  life,  and  no  more  attacks  were  made. 

Grant  was  confident  that  Meade  had  done  all  that 
any  general  could  do  to  carry  the  day;  and  he  recog- 
nized the  fact,  particularly  on  "black  Saturday,"  that 
Meade  was  "the  incarnation  of  splendid  vigor,  courage, 
and  energy."  And  immediately  after  the  final  assault 


266  ORANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

on  that  day  he  sent  a  dispatch  to  him  to  the  effect  that 
he  was  perfectly  satisfied  that  all  had  been  done  that 
could  have  been  done,  and  ordered  that  more  spades  and 
fewer  rifles  be  used,  and  by  this  means  the  long  siege  of 
Petersburg  began. 

But  the  "divinity  that  shapes  our  ends,  rough  hew 
them  how  we  will,"  had  ordained  that  Grant's  disap- 
pointment and  mortification  over  the  affairs  at  Peters- 
burg should  not  end  with  the  last  assault  on  the  18th 
of  June. 

Lieutenant  Colonel  Henry  Pleasants,  of  the  Forty- 
eighth  Pennsylvania  Infantry,  a  practical  coal  miner, 
as  were  all  the  men  of  his  regiment,  conceived  and  care- 
fully thought  out  the  bold  plan  of  tunnelling  under  the 
enemy's  most  important  works,  and  planting  a  mine 
which,  when  exploded,  would  spread  such  consterna- 
tion among  the  Confederates  as  would  enable  the  Fed- 
eral troops  to  storm  the  fortification  easily  and  capture 
the  city.  Grant  says  that  the  plans  of  the  tunnel  were 
submitted  to  Meade  and  himself  and  that  both  agreed 
as  to  the  practicability  of  the  scheme;  but  the  biogra- 
phers of  Meade  say  that  he  had  no  faith  in  the  measure, 
but  when  it  was  adopted  he  took  every  precaution  to 
overcome  the  difficulties  which  he  clearly  foresaw. 
The  work  began  in  front  of  Burnside's  corps  during  the 
last  week  in  June,  and  although  it  was  over  500  feet 
long,  and  contained  many  galleries  it  was  completed  on 
the  23d  of  July.  It  was  charged  with  8,000  or  10,000 
pounds  of  powder,  and  was  the  longest  siege  tunnel 


HOW  PETERSBURG  WAS  LOST  267 

ever  run.  Both  Grant  and  Meade  were  at  Burnside's 
headquarters  at  this  time,  personally  looking  after  some 
of  the  more  important  details  that  everything  might 
work  exactly  as  they  would  have  it — each  going  to  the 
limit  of  his  power  to  bring  about  a  brilliant  conclusion 
to  the  unique  affair. 

The  hour  appointed  for  the  springing  of  the  mine 
was  3 :30  Saturday  morning,  July  30th.  It  was  an 
hour  of  great  expectation.  Grant  and  Meade  seemed 
confident  that  an  open  door  had  been  found  through 
which  the  Federal  troops  could  march  victoriously  into 
Petersburg.  The  parting  of  the  fuse  caused  a  weari- 
some delay  of  one  hour  and  fifteen  minutes,  but  when 
the  connection  was  made  and  the  fire  applied  quickly 
there  came  a  great  ground  swell,  with  a  trembling  as 
if  it  had  been  the  work  of  an  earthquake.  In  a  moment 
more  came  the  terrific  explosion.  Huge  masses  of  earth 
were  lifted  as  easily  "as  a  child  would  toss  a  marble." 
Men,  guns,  cannon,  caissons,  and  timbers  belched  forth 
high  in  air  and  descended  immediately  around  the  crater 
(150  feet  long,  90  feet  wide,  and  30  feet  deep)  in  a 
shapeless,  chaotic  mass. 

Simultaneously  with  the  explosion,  150  heavy  can- 
non, mortars,  and  field  pieces  opened  a  terrific  cannon- 
ade upon  the  terrified  and  almost  panic-stricken  enemy. 
It  was  the  special  business  of  Burnside  to  use  the  Ninth 
Corps  in  storming  the  enemy's  works  immediately  fol- 
lowing the  explosion.  Explicit  instructions  had  been 
given  him  by  Meade  as  to  what  to  do  and  how  to  do  it ; 


268  GRANT,  THE  MAX  OF  MYSTERY 

with  those  instructions  promptly  carried  out  the  way 
was  clear  to  the  heart  of  the  city.  "But  no  human  fore- 
sight can  guard  against  the  machinations  of  stupidity." 
Among  other  things,  all  corps  commanders  had  been 
ordered  to  remove  all  obstructions  between  them  and  the 
enemy's  works,  that  nothing  might  prevent  the  storming 
column  from  making  a  rapid  and  effective  advance. 
Four  divisions  had  been  selected  by  Burnside  to  storm 
the  works,  one  of  which  was  colored.  But  for  reasons 
which  seem  incredible,  he  did  not  obey  this  vital  order ; 
and  the  division  which  was  appointed  to  lead  in  the  as- 
sault was  the  least  capable,  on  account  of  the  inefficiency 
of  its  commander — General  Ledlie — to  perform  such  an 
important  service. 

The  remainder  of  the  story  is  appalling  evidence  of 
how  the  movements  went  contrary  to  the  well  laid 
plans  of  Grant  and  Meade.  In  advancing,  Ledlie's  di- 
vision huddled  into  the  crater,  and  the  commander 
sought  refuge  in  a  bomb-proof.  The  other  divisions 
found  difficulty  in  pushing  forward  because  of  obstacles 
which  Burnside  had  neglected  to  remove,  and  of  the 
crowding  of  too  many  troops  in  a  limited  space.  If  they 
had  spread  out  to  the  right  and  left  flanks  as  they  had 
been  ordered  to  do  before  the  movement  began,  the 
enemy's  works  could  have  been  easily  captured. 

From  the  moment  of  the  explosion  the  affair  was  a 
bungle,  a  stupendous  failure;  more  than  that,  a  crime. 
The  delay  in  making  the  assault  as  ordered,  gave  the 
Confederates  ample  time  to  recover  from  their  panic- 


HOW  PETERSBURG  WAS  LOST  269 

stricken  condition  and  to  reinforce  their  lines  in  front 
of  the  storming  column ;  and  thus  for  the  third  time,  in 
Grant's  effort  to  capture  Petersburg  in  the  gloomy  sum- 
mer of  1864,  the  fates  were  against  him.  After  many 
vain  attempts  to  drive  the  enemy  from  his  works  with 
troops  more  or  less  disorganized,  Grant  made  an  inspec- 
tion of  the  situation,  and  when  he  saw  how  little  had 
been  gained  and  how  great  were  the  losses,  he  concluded 
that  any  further  efforts  to  capture  the  city  would  result 
only  in  a  useless  sacrifice  of  life,  and  at  2  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  the  strange  catastrophe  of  affairs  at  Peters- 
burg came  to  an  end. 

According  to  the  Medical  Department,  4008  Union 
soldiers  were  taken  from  the  ranks  on  that  day,  419 
killed,  1,670  wounded,  and  1,910  missing,  all  due,  to 
use  Grant's  own  words,  "to  the  inefficiency  on  the  part 
of  the  corps  commander  (Burnside)  and  the  incompe- 
tency  of  the  division  commander  (Ledlie)  who  was  sent 
to  lead  the  assault." 

Strange  indeed  is  the  story  of  the  tragedy  at  Peters- 
burg. In  blasted  hopes  and  disaster  there  is  nothing 
more  painful  in  the  history  of  the  Civil  War.  One 
month  before  the  attack  on  the  15th  of  June  the  city 
was  practically  defenceless,  and  Generals  W.  F.  Smith 
and  Q.  A.  Gillmore,  both  serving  under  Butler  in  the 
Army  of  the  James,  recognizing  that  Petersburg,  next 
to  Richmond,  was  the  most  strategic  point  in  the  Con- 
federacy, asked  permission  of  Butler  to  move  upon  the 
city  and  hold  it  permanently.  They  were  then  only 


270 

three  miles  from  the  ungarrisoned  place,  and  could  have 
taken  it  with  little  or  no  loss.  But  Butler,  whom  Hos- 
mer  in  his  Outcome  of  the  Civil  War  calls  the  "Grouchy 
of  the  Wilderness  campaign,"  curtly  refused. 

The  Grant  of  Donelson,  Shiloh,  Vicksburg,  Chatta- 
nooga, and  of  the  campaign  which  culminated  in  the 
miracle  of  moving  his  army  to  the  south  of  the  James, 
on  the  morning  of  the  15th  of  June  would  have  rationed 
Hancock's  corps  of  20,000  (not  28,000  as  is  often  er- 
roneously stated),  and  marched  the  sixteen  miles  to 
Petersburg  in  time  to  capture  the  city  before  the  setting 
of  the  sun.  But  no  general  in  the  army  was  more  con- 
siderate towards  his  subordinates  than  Grant.  Because 
of  this  he  kept  some  of  them  in  position  when  they 
should  have  been  relieved  from  duty  for  the  good  of  the 
service.  It  was  only  when  bearing  a  load  of  tremendous 
responsibility  and  the  exigencies  of  the  case  demanded 
prompt  action,  that  he  deprived  them  of  their  com- 
mands. 

Butler,  "for  reasons  other  than  military,"  had  been 
placed  in  command  of  the  James  before  Grant  took 
command  of  all  the  armies,  and  in  this  instance  it 
seemed  advisable  to  the  Commander-in-chief  to  reckon 
with  him ;  believing,  no  doubt  from  Butler's  statements 
as  to  the  works  at  Petersburg,  that  the  capture  of  the 
city  by  Smith  alone  would  come  as  a  joy  as  well  as  a 
surprise  to  Meade  and  his  army.  But  the  misinforma- 
tion furnished  Grant,  at  Bermuda  Hundred,  on  the 
night  of  the  14th  of  June,  both  as  to  the  strength  of  the 


BOW  PETERSBURG  WAS  LOST  271 

enemy's  works  and  the  route  Hancock  should  take 
in  marching  to  Petersburg,  was  the  direct  cause  of 
the  unsuccessful  assaults  which  consumed  an  army  of 
14,585  Union  men — 1,298  being  killed,  7,474  wounded, 
and  1,814  missing,  from  the  15th  to  the  18th  of  June. 

The  mystery  of  Grant's  character  did  not  stand  out 
more  impressively  at  Shiloh,  Vicksburg,  or  Chattanooga 
than  thus  far  during  the  Virginia  campaign.  Under 
other  commanders  "Lee  had  seen  the  Army  of  the  Poto- 
mac retreat  from  his  front  four  times,  once  from  the 
Peninsula,  once  across  the  Rappahannock,  in  1862 ; 
and  once  again  across  the  Rappahannock,  and  once 
across  the  Rapidan  in  1863."  But  Lee  never  saw  Grant 
lose  an  inch  of  ground.  From  the  hour  of  crossing  the 
Rapidan  on  May  4th,  he  went  steadily,  sturdily  for- 
ward, repelling,  and  impelling  attacks;  assaulting 
(when  to  him  it  seemed  necessary)  strongly  fortified 
positions,  effecting  difficult  and  daring  flank  move- 
ments, and  all  this  with  a  stern  quietude  that  indicated 
reserve  force  and  a  consciousness  of  powers  adapted  to 
almost  any  emergency. 

For  this  campaign,  made  with  such  unconquerable 
obstinacy,  resoluteness,  and  terrible  impressiveness,  and 
which  sounded  the  doom  of  the  Confederacy,  Grant  was 
severely  criticised  by  many  for  what  seemed  to  them  to 
be  a  reckless  waste  of  human  life.  But  if  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  under  his  command  were  to  go  forward, 
never  again  to  retreat,  he  could  not  escape  the  Wilder- 
ness nor  Spottsylvania ;  and  Cold  Harbor  was  one  of 


272  QRAXT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

those  costly  experiments  which  war  sometimes  makes 
necessary. 

The  whole  movement  southward  from  the  Rapidan 
so  completely  approached  the  marvellous  in  matchless 
persistence  and  unequalled  strategy,  that  in  this  con- 
nection a  quotation  from  Colonel  Thomas  L.  Livermore 
of  Massachusetts,  a  careful  writer  of  Civil  War  history, 
is  of  interest :  "From  the  camps  north  of  the  Rapidan  to 
the  James,  the  army  moved  over  one  hundred  miles, 
crossing  three  rivers  in  the  face  of  the  enemy,  making 
nine  flank  movements  without  a  miscarriage  or  a  sur- 
prise. The  sick  and  wounded,  excepting  a  few  who  per- 
ished between  the  lines,  were  taken  up  and  transported 
to  the  rear  with  the  most  perfect  method  of  humanity. 
The  army  was  well  fed,  well  clothed,  and  well  sheltered. 
The  daily  percentage  of  sick,  in  May,  was  less  than  in 
June,  and  was  almost  the  same  as  it  was  in  camp  in 
April.  A  supply  train  of  4,000  wagons  and  a  long 
train  of  reserve  artillery  were  so  well  protected  in  their 
movements  that  not  a  gun,  or  wagon,  or  an  animal  was 
taken  by  the  enemy ;  and  not  a  dollar's  worth  of  mater- 
ial was  abandoned  or  destroyed  to  save  it  from  the 
enemy." 

During  the  movement  from  the  Rapidan  to  Peters- 
burg, with  all  its  terrible  strain  and  hardship,  Grant's 
physical,  mental,  nervous,  temperamental  strength  was 
little  less  than  marvellous.  His  conduct  at  this  time  was 
an  exhibition  of  self-mastery  of  which  only  the  highest 
type  of  manhood  is  capable.  Though  sorely  disap- 


HOW  PETERSBURG  WAS  LOST  273 

pointed  at  the  failure  to  take  Petersburg,  he  was  able 
to  repel  discouragement,  and  in  the  face  of  severe  and 
unjust  criticism  by  his  enemies,  his  indomitable  mind 
enabled  him  to  manifest  resolute  quietness;  and  when 
it  became  evident  to  him  that  the  city  could  not  be  taken 
by  assault  or  mine  explosions,  he  took  a  calm  survey  of 
the  situation  south  of  Richmond  and  of  the  operations 
of  the  armies  in  other  departments,  and  immediately 
began  to  plan  campaigns  which  would  make  the  down- 
fall of  the  Confederacy  inevitable. 


XXXII. 

IN  THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  SHENANDOAH. 

ARLY  in  the  campaign  of  1864  Grant  saw 
the  necessity  of  driving  the  enemy  from 
the  Valley  of  the  Shenandoah,  the  most  fer- 
tile region  in  Virginia,  about  150  miles  in 
extent  from  north  to  south,  and  varying  from  30  to  40 
miles  in  width.  It  is  bounded  on  the  east  by  the  Blue 
Ridge,  a  continuation  of  the  South  Mountain  of  Penn- 
sylvania and  Maryland,  and  its  western  limit  is  the 
North  Mountain,  a  part  of  the  main  chain  of  the  Alle- 
ghanies.  The  valley  has  been  called  "secession's  fertile 
incubator  and  truck  garden".  The  southern  end  being 
a  considerable  distance  west  from  Richmond  and  thence 
running  northeasterly  toward  Washington,  it  was  the 
favorite  manoeuvering  ground  of  the  enemy  early  in 
the  war,  and  furnished  the  Confederates  an  open  and 
protected  road  for  the  invasion  of  the  North. 

General  Franz  Sigel,  who  was  in  command  in  this 
district,  under  instruction  from  Grant  moved  up  the 


IN  THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  SHENANDOAH  275 

Shenandoah  and  engaged  the  enemy  under  Brecken- 
ridge  at  New  Market,  May  15th,  but  was  entirely  de- 
feated, losing  artillery,  supplies,  and  a  thousand  prison- 
ers. He  was  relieved  of  his  command  and  General 
David  Hunter  was  chosen  for  the  place.  On  the  20th, 
and  again  on  the  25th  of  May,  Grant  wrote  to  Halleck 
urging  that  Hunter  press  forward  and  destroy  canals 
and  railroads  to  prevent  Lee's  army  from  getting  fur- 
ther supplies.  Hunter  marched  rapidly  up  the  river, 
engaged  the  enemy  near  Staunton,  and  completely 
routed  him,  taking  1500  prisoners;  but  Lee  poured  re- 
inforcements into  the  Valley  and  Hunter  found  it  nec- 
essary to  retreat  to  the  westward  and  make  a  long  cir- 
cuit back  to  Harper's  Ferry. 

This  left  the  Valley  open,  and  General  Jubal  Early, 
in  command  of  a  considerable  force,  moved  northward 
with  the  intention  of  threatening  Washington  and  com- 
pelling Grant  either  to  make  a  premature  attack  upon 
the  works  at  Petersburg  or  practically  to  abandon  the 
siege.  So  rapidly  did  Early  move  that  by  the  10th  of 
July  his  camp  was  but  a  few  miles  from  the  capital. 
A  careful  survey  on  the  following  day  convinced  him 
that  the  crowning  achievement  of  the  war  was  possibly 
within  his  grasp;  but  before  his  orders  could  be  exe- 
cuted he  saw  to  his  dismay  the  works  which  had  been 
but  feebly  manned  filled  by  fresh  bodies  of  defenders, 
so  that  he  was  compelled  to  withdraw.  It  was  a  bold 
move  and  caused  much  anxiety  in  Washington  and  at 
the  North.  So  near  to  the  city  did  the  enemy  come 


276  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

that  a  skirmish  took  place  on  the  llth  in  full  view  of 
the  capital,  and  was  witnessed  by  President  Lincoln, 
who  watched  the  progress  of  the  fight  until  an  officer 
fell  mortally  wounded  within  three  feet  of  him. 

As  soon  as  Grant  knew  of  the  gravity  of  the  situ- 
ation he  sent  parts  of  the  Sixth  (Wright's)  and  the 
Nineteenth  Corps  to  the  relief  of  the  capital.  They 
arrived  in  the  nick  of  time  and  made  Early's  with- 
drawal necessary.  It  was  the  desire  of  the  President 
that  the  flying  enemy  should  be  pursued.  If  an  aggres- 
sive man  had  been  in  charge,  the  force  might  have  been 
annihilated ;  but  Halleck  was  timid  and  irresolute,  and 
Grant  was  too  far  away  to  feel  certain  as  to  what  course 
to  pursue,  although  he  had,  on  July  14th,  urged  a  pur- 
suit "by  veterans,  militiamen  on  horseback,  and  every- 
thing that  could  be  got  to  follow,  to  eat  out  Virginia, 
clear  and  clean  as  far  as  they  go,  so  that  crows  flying 
over  it  for  the  balance  of  the  season  will  have  to  carry 
their  provender  with  them."  But  messages  and  orders 
crossed  each  other  and  produced  confusion,  so  that 
Early,  finding  that  he  was  not  pursued,  turned  and 
drove  the  Union  forces  across  the  Potomac  and  sent  a 
part  of  his  command  to  terrorize  the  small  towns  in 
Maryland  and  on  the  Pennsylvania  border,  exacting 
heavy  ransoms  or  applying  the  torch. 

It  did  not  require  the  genius  of  Grant  to  perceive 
that  the  situation  required  a  competent  and  aggressive 
leader  in  the  upper  Potomac;  but  it  did  require  the 
genius  of  Grant  to  select  such  a  leader.  In  that  sec- 


IN  THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  BHENAXDOAH  277 

tion  of  the  field  of  war,  confusion  and  disorder  reigned. 
Grant,  being  at  City  Point,  where  it  was  necessary  for 
him  to  establish  his  headquarters,  could  not  attend  per- 
sonally to  the  details  of  the  upper  and  lower  Potomac 
at  the  same  time.  Things  were  going  wrong  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  field,  chiefly  because  the  Adminis- 
tration was  unwilling  to  adopt  promptly  the  important 
measures  he  had  urgently  recommended. 

The  general  whom  Grant  most  trusted  and  loved 
was  Sherman,  and  next  to  him  was  the  gallant  McPher- 
son,  whose  death  in  the  battle  before  Atlanta  on  July 
22nd,  1864,  caused  Grant  unspeakable  grief.  After  that 
calamity,  Sheridan  took  McPherson's  place  in  Grant's 
confidence  and  affection,  and  there  he  reigned  without 
a  rival  till  death  parted  them.  Therefore,  when  Grant 
wanted  a  general  to  put  an  end  to  the  disturbed  condi- 
tion of  things  in  and  about  Washington,  and  to  com- 
mand all  the  troops  in  the  field  which  were  to  operate 
against  Early  and  drive  him  and  his  army  from  the 
valley  of  the  Shenandoah,  he  promptly  appointed  Sheri- 
dan. 

The  event  which  placed  Early  at  the  tender  mercy 
of  Sheridan  occurred  on  the  last  day  of  July,  and  on 
the  following  day  the  latter  met  Grant  at  City  Point, 
where  the  helplessness  of  the  authorities  at  Washington 
to  remove  the  troublesome  condition  of  matters  in  the 
upper  Potomac  was  talked  over  in  detail.  Each  under- 
stood the  other  thoroughly,  and  the  all-important  fea- 
ture of  the  affair  was  that  Grant's  confidence  that  Sheri- 


278  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

dan  would  become  master  of  the  Shenandoah  was  as 
unshaken  as  the  foundation  of  the  Blue  Ridge.  On 
the  2nd  of  August  Sheridan  departed  for  Washington. 
Preceding  him  by  one  day  was  a  dispatch  from  Grant 
to  Halleck  which  read  as  follows : 

"I  am  sending  General  Sheridan  for  temporary  duty  whilst 
the  enemy  is  being  expelled  from  the  border.  Unless  General 
Hunter  is  in  the  field  in  person  I  want  Sheridan  put  in  command 
of  all  the  troops  in  the  field,  with  instructions  to  put  himself 
south  of  the  enemy  and  follow  him  to  the  death.  Wherever  the 
enemy  goes,  let  our  troops  go  also." 

When  Sheridan  reached  Washington  to  receive  in- 
structions from  Halleck,  the  Secretary  of  War  objected 
to  the  appointment  of  so  young  a  man  for  so  great  a 
command  and  so  large  a  responsibility,  and  the  Presi- 
dent was  of  like  mind ;  "but  now,"  to  quote  Lincoln's 
remarks  to  Sheridan,  "since  Grant  has  ploughed  round 
the  difficulties  of  the  situation  by  picking  you  out  to 
command  the  boys  in  the  field,  I  feel  satisfied  with  what 
has  been  done  and  hope  for  the  best." 

An  incident  of  remarkable  interest  is  connected 
with  the  dispatch  which  Grant  sent  to  Halleck.  Presi- 
dent Lincoln  happened  to  see  the  dispatch,  and  not  at- 
tempting to  conceal  his  disgust  with  the  war  office  in 
its  management  of  the  operations  in  the  upper  Potomac, 
he  went  to  the  expense  of  violating  all  official  etiquette 
by  immediately  sending  to  Grant  the  following  charac- 
teristic message: 

"WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  Aug.  3,  1864. 
"Lieut. -Gen.  Grant,  City  Point,  Va.: 

"I  have  seen  your  dispatch,  in  which  you  say,  'I  want  Sheri- 


IN  THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  SHENANDOAH  279 

dan  put  in  command  of  all  the  troops  in  the  field,  with  instruc- 
tions to  put  himself  south  of  the  enemy  and  follow  him  to  the 
death.  Wherever  the  enemy  goes,  let  our  troops  go  also."  This, 
I  think,  is  exactly  right  as  to  how  our  forces  should  move.  But 
please  look  over  the  dispatches  you  may  have  received  from  here, 
even  since  you  made  that  order,  and  discover  if  you  can,  that 
there  is  any  idea  in  the  head  of  any  one  here  of  'putting  our 
army  south  of  the  enemy'  or  of  'following  him  to  the  death'  in 
any  direction.  I  repeat  to  you,  it  will  neither  be  done  nor  at- 
tempted unless  you  watch  it  every  day,  and  hour,  and  force  it. 

"A.  LINCOLN." 

It  was  not  necessary  for  Grant  to  read  between  the 
lines  of  this  message  to  understand  its  full  import.  At 
once  he  saw  clearly  that  the  President's  mind  was  bur- 
dened because  of  the  confusion  and  inactivity  which 
prevailed  in  that  part  of  the  field;  and  in  two  hours 
after  the  message  was  received  the  General  was  off  for 
the  North ;  but  he  did  not  stop  at  Washington.  He  did 
not  want  to  meet  Halleck  nor  Stanton,  lest  they  might 
urge  a  change  in  his  plans.  He  knew  how  "to  follow 
the  enemy  to  the  death,"  and  being  determined  not  to 
have  his  purpose  interfered  with,  he  proceeded  directly 
to  Monocacy,  near  Frederick,  Maryland,  where  he 
found  Hunter.  When  Grant  asked  him  where  the 
enemy  was,  he  replied  that  he  did  not  know.  He  was 
so  confused  by  contradictory  orders  from  Washington 
moving  him  right  and  left  that  he  had  lost  all  trace  of 
the  enemy.  Under  Grant's  directions  the  enemy  was 
soon  found  and  instructions  were  given  to  Hunter  how 
to  proceed.  In  a  perfectly  frank  and  genuinely  patri- 
otic spirit  General  Hunter  suggested  that  it  might  be 


280  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

better  for  some  one  else  to  take  command,  and  offered 
to  retire.  Grant  eagerly  accepted  the  generous  offer 
and  immediately  telegraphed  General  Sheridan,  who 
came  by  special  train.  Only  the  three  generals  and 
their  staffs  were  at  the  station  at  Monocacy  when  the 
transfer  was  made  and  Sheridan  was  given  command 
of  the  newly  organized  Middle  Military  Division,  with 
the  instructions  which  had  been  prepared  for  Hunter, 
two  paragraphs  of  which  are  so  characteristic  of  Grant 
that  I  insert  them : 

"In  pushing  up  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  as  it  is  expected  you 
will  have  to  go  first  or  last,  it  is  desirable  that  nothing  should 
be  left  to  invite  the  enemy  to  return.  Take  all  provisions,  forage, 
and  stock  wanted  for  the  use  of  your  command.  Such  as  cannot 
be  consumed,  destroy.  It  is  not  desirable  that  the  buildings 
should  be  destroyed — they  should  rather  be  protected;  but  the 
people  should  be  informed  that  so  long  as  an  army  can  subsist 
among  them,  recurrences  of  these  raids  must  be  expected,  and  we 
are  determined  to  stop  them  at  all  hazards. 

"Bear  in  mind,  the  object  is  to  drive  the  enemy  south;  and 
to  do  this  you  want  to  keep  him  always  in  sight.  Be  guided  in 
your  course  by  the  course  he  takes."* 


*  It  was  at  this  period  that  much  discontent  prevailed  in  the 
North  because  of  the  draft  for  more  troops.  The  opinion  was  wide- 
spread that  Grant  could  reduce  Richmond  without  the  addition  of  a 
single  man.  His  belief  was  expressed  in  a  letter  to  his  friend  Wash- 
burne,  that  if  the  noncombatants  in  the  North  were  as  buoyant  and 
full  of  hope  as  the  men  who  were  doing  the  fighting,  and  that  if  the 
draft  was  quietly  enforced,  the  enemy  would  become  despondent  and 
make  but  little  resistance.  Fresh  troops  were  needed,  and  the  General 
urged  the  draft  for  the  reason  that  it  would  be  unjust  to  the  men 
who  had  gone  through  so  many  battles  to  subject  them  to  another 
series  of  engagements,  when  it  was  within  his  power  so  soon  and  so 
largely  to  reinforce  them  and  thus  distribute  the  loss,  if  further 
losses  were  necessary,  among  a  larger  number ;  or  by  means  of  a  larger 
army,  to  achieve  the  same  end  with  a  far  less  sacrifice  of  life. 


IN  THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  SHENANDOAH  281 

Philip  H.  Sheridan,  only  33  years  old,  a  graduate 
of  West  Point,  a  born  leader  of  men,  combining  untir- 
ing energy,  dauntless  courage,  ardent  enthusiasm  and 
cool  judgment,  was  an  ideal  man  for  the  position. 
Grant  asked  him  if  he  could  be  ready  by  Tuesday  morn- 
ing (August  9th).  "Yes,  and  before;  on  Monday 
morning  before  daylight,"  Sheridan  responded.  Grant 
was  delighted  and  laconically  said,  "Go  in."  In  his 
report  he  says:  "He  was  off  promptly  on  time;  and  I 
may  here  add,  that  I  have  never  since  deemed  it  neces- 
sary to  visit  General  Sheridan  before  giving  him 
orders." 

Sheridan's  subordinates  were  men  who  outranked 
and  in  some  cases  had  commanded  him.  They  took  up 
their  work  without  a  murmur,  while  a  brilliant  group 
of  younger  men,  Crook,  Merritt,  Ouster  and  Charles 
Russell  Lowell,  eagerly  followed  the  lead  of  their  young 
commander. 

With  a  force  of  26,000  men  Sheridan  now  began  a 
campaign  as  terrible  as  it  was  brilliant,  for  it  became 
necessary  in  order  to  prevent  supplies  being  sent  to  the 
Confederate  army  to  turn  the  garden  of  Virginia  into  a 
desert.  As  the  Union  forces  swept  up  the  valley  they 
gathered  in  crops  and  cattle,  whatever  they  could  use  or 
what  might  be  of  use  to  the  enemy.  What  they  could 
not  take  away  was  destroyed.  In  a  series  of  hard- 
fought  battles  during  September,  Sheridan  beat  the 
enemy  back  to  the  southward  until  his  communication 
with  Washington  was  cut  off  and  the  President  became 


282  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

anxious  about  him.  He  was  afraid  that  Early  would 
get  in  behind  him  and  that  reinforcements  would  be 
sent  out  from  Richmond  to  overwhelm  him,  but  Grant 
assured  the  President  that  he  would  keep  Lee  busy. 
Accordingly  on  the  28th  of  September,  he  ordered  an 
advance  on  Richmond;  but  after  desperate  fighting  in 
which  heavy  losses  were  sustained  the  works  of  the 
enemy  were  found  to  be  too  strong  to  be  carried  by 
assault,  and  the  two  opposing  armies  maintained  their 
relative  position  to  the  close  of  the  siege. 

The  Confederate  commander  made  a  serious 
blunder  in  failing  to  reckon  with  Grant  as  a  master  of 
strategy.  He  seemed  to  suppose  that  because  Peters- 
burg had  not  been  taken,  Grant  would  sit  down  in  hope- 
less inactivity  behind  his  earthworks  till  something 
should  turn  up  that  would  compel  him  to  embark  his 
army — as  it  was  once  embarked  before  under  a  different 
commander — to  steam  down  the  James  and  up  the 
Potomac.  That  "turning  up  of  something,"  Lee  took 
upon  himself  to  supply  by  sending  a  large  portion  of 
his  army  into  Shenandoah.  But  Grant  did  not  steam 
down  the  James  nor  up  the  Potomac.  It  was  his  pur- 
pose— boldly  but  carefully  conceived — to  make  Lee  act 
in  obedience  to  the  movements  of  the  Federal  army,  and 
to  turn  the  garden  of  the  Shenandoah  into  a  Valley  of 
Humiliation  and  Desolation  to  the  enemy ;  and  how  well 
Grant's  purpose  was  executed  the  sequel  will  show. 

After  Sheridan's  magnificent  victory  over  Early  at 
Winchester,  on  September  19th,  he  determined  to  make 


IN  THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  SHENANDOAH  283 

a  practical  application  of  Grant's  letter  of  instructions 
in  so  desolating  the  Shenandoah  Valley  "that  nothing 
should  be  left  to  invite  the  enemy  to  return ;"  or,  to  use 
Sheridan's  own  words,  he  proposed  "to  make  the  coun- 
try untenable  for  permanent  occupation  by  the  Confed- 
erates." In  Grant's  opinion  it  was  the  only  way  to 
terminate  the  Valley  campaign  effectually. 

In  a  few  days  the  Valley  from  mountain  to  moun- 
tain was  the  scene  of  a  conflagration  such  as  had  not 
been  witnessed  during  the  war.  All  things  upon  which 
the  enemy  could  subsist  were  destroyed.  It  was  not  a 
measure  of  retaliation  for  the  wanton  devastation  of 
northern  towns  and  property,  as  had  been  falsely  sup- 
posed, but  a  stern  necessity  of  war.  The  Valley  was  be- 
ing treated  as  it  should  have  been  treated  at  first,  but  the 
event  was  not  without  a  humane  feature.  All  families 
who  desired  to  do  so  were  provided  with  transportation 
north,  and  with  so  much  of  their  household  effects  and 
such  quantity  of  provisions  as  their  necessities  required. 
The  laying  waste  of  the  Shenandoah  was  a  crushing 
blow  to  the  Confederates,  and  the  battle  which  soon 
followed  effectually  closed  the  Valley,  which  for  a  long 
time,  had  been  the  race  course  of  the  Confederate  army. 

Sheridan  had  been  so  successful  in  his  Shenandoah 
campaign  that  it  was  thought  possible  to  detach  a  part 
of  his  command  for  service  elsewhere.  Plans  were 
made  and  orders  given  to  this  effect,  and  Sheridan  him- 
self went  to  Washington,  October  15th,  to  confer  with 
the  authorities,  leaving  his  army  at  Cedar  Creek, 


284  GRANT,  THE  MAX  OF  MYSTERY 

twenty  miles  south  of  Winchester,  under  command  of 
General  Wright.  His  errand  over,  Sheridan  started  to 
return  and  reached  Winchester  on  the  evening  of  the 
18th.  Hearing  that  all  was  well  at  the  front  he  slept 
soundly  and  after  breakfast  rode  leisurely  on  to  join 
his  command.  As  he  advanced  he  was  disturbed  by 
the  increasing  rumble  of  distant  cannon,  and  soon  he 
began  to  meet  groups  of  fugitives  and  provision  trains 
hastening  to  the  rear.  He  ordered  the  brigade  at  Win- 
chester to  arrest  all  flight  and  pressed  toward  the  front. 
By  rebuke,  entreaty,  imprecations,  and  commands  he 
turned  back  the  stream  of  frightened  men,  rallied  and 
reorganized  them,  and  changed  them  from  a  disordered 
mob  into  a  resistless  army.  Possibly  never  in  the 
history  of  war  was  there  a  finer  exhibition  of  the  per- 
sonal power  of  leader  to  change  defeat  into  victory. 
What  had  happened  was  this:  From  the  top  of  the 
mountain  of  the  preceding  day  the  Confederate  officers 
had  made  a  survey  of  the  Union  camp,  and  before  day- 
light a  sudden  and  impetuous  attack  was  made,  com- 
pletely surprising  the  Federals,  who  were  thrown  into 
confusion.  Under  the  gallant  leadership  of  Ruther- 
ford B.  Hayes,  Ricketts,  Getty,  and  Lewis  A.  Grant, 
portions  of  the  army  fought  with  desperate  valor  and 
held  the  field  until  Sheridan  arrived,  when  the  reorgan- 
ized and  inspirited  forces  hurled  themselves  upon  the 
enemy  and  swept  them  across  the  river,  to  be  pursued  by 
the  cavalry  until  they  melted  away  into  the  surrounding 
country.  The  victory  was  complete.  All  that  had 


IN  THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  SHENAXDOAH  285 

been  lost  in  the  early  morning  was  recovered,  many 
guns  and  a  large  amount  of  camp  equipment  were  cap- 
tured, and  the  enemy  was  demoralized.* 

As  might  be  expected,  this  victory  was  hailed  with 
boundless  enthusiasm  in  the  North.  Sheridan  was  the 
hero  of  the  hour  and  the  President  hastened  to  make 
him  a  major-general  in  the  regular  army.  But  amid 
the  general  rejoicing  there  was  none  who  was  better 
satisfied  than  the  silent  commander  who  had  planned 
the  movement  and  selected  its  leader.  Almost  eclipsed 
for  the  time,  and  suffering  from  humiliating  failure  at 
Petersburg  through  no  fault  of  his  own,  he  was  well  con- 
tent to  see  the  cause  triumph  and  to  have  a  fellow  sol- 
dier receive  his  due  meed  of  praise.  He  telegraphed 
Secretary  Stanton,  "I  had  a  salute  of  one  hundred  guns 
fired  from  each  of  the  armies  here,  in  honor  of  Sheri- 
dan's last  victory.  Turning  what  bid  fair  to  be  disaster 
into  a  glorious  victory  stamps  Sheridan,  what  I  have 
always  thought  him,  one  of  the  ablest  of  generals." 

When  General  Grant  assumed  the  command  of  all 
the  Union  forces,  the  understanding  with  General 
Sherman  was  that  he  should  march  against  General 
J.  E.  Johnsten,  prevent  him  from  joining  Lee,  destroy 
his  army  if  possible,  and  capture  Atlanta,  the  southern 
stronghold  of  the  Confederacy.  The  contest  between 


*  The  brilliant  victory  at  Cedar  Creek  has  been  made  the  sub- 
ject of  a  famous  poem  entitled  "Sheridan's  Ride,"  by  Thomas  Bu- 
chanan Read  (1865).  It  has  been  rendered  with  stirring  effect  by 
many  readers,  but  more  especially  by  America's  most  distinguished 
elocutionist,  James  E.  Murdock. 


286  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

Sherman  and  Johnston  was  a  battle  of  giants,  well 
matched  in  courage  and  skill.  With  the  three  armies, 
the  Cumberland,  the  Tennessee,  and  the  Ohio,  com- 
manded by  Thomas,  McPherson,  and  Schofield,  Sher- 
man left  Chattanooga  May  7th,  1864,  and  after  a  series 
of  fierce  battles  succeeded  by  the  10th  of  July  in  shut- 
ting up  Johnston's  army  in  the  defences  of  Atlanta.  At 
this  crisis  Johnston  was  superseded  by  General  J.  B. 
Hood,  who  was  more  aggressive  but  lacked  the  caution 
and  skill  of  his  predecessor.  On  the  20th,  22nd,  and  28th 
of  July,  Hood  made  three  desperate  assaults  on  the 
Union  Army,  in  one  of  which  (the  22nd)  the  gallant 
and  beloved  General  McPherson  was  killed,  and  Hood 
was  repulsed  with  heavy  losses.  By  an  incautious  move 
his  army  became  divided  and  Sherman  marched  into 
Atlanta,  September  2nd.  Hood  now  moved  northward 
into  Tennessee,  fought  his  way  as  far  as  Nashville,  and 
with  his  army  of  50,000  men  invested  the  city,  which 
was  defended  by  the  army  of  the  Cumberland  under 
General  Thomas.  Grant  was  greatly  concerned  about 
the  situation,  and,  fearful  that  the  cautious  Thomas 
would  delay  too  long,  started  west  to  take  command  in 
person ;  but  when  he  reached  Washington  he  received  a 
dispatch  from  Thomas,  December  15th,  announcing  his 
attack  upon  the  enemy.  In  a  battle  that  lasted  two  days 
Hood's  army  was  practically  annihilated  and  the  judg- 
ment and  generalship  of  Thomas  were  completely 
vindicated. 


IN  THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  8HENANDOAH  287 

A  month  before  the  battle  at  Nashville,  Sherman 
began  his  famous  march  to  the  sea.  There  has  been  some 
misunderstanding,  as  well  as  careless  writing  as  to  who 
projected  the  movement — Grant  or  Sherman.  In  his 
Autobiography,  Samuel  L.  Clemens  (Mark  Twain) 
makes  Grant  say  a  short  time  before  his  death: 
"Neither  of  us  originated  the  idea  of  Sherman's  march 
to  the  sea.  The  enemy  did  it."  But  this  quotation,  if 
correctly  given  by  Mr.  Clemens,  needs  explanation. 
Only  the  official  records  can  clearly  and  satisfactorily 
settle  the  authorship  of  the  idea  of  "Marching  through 
Georgia." 

In  the  latter  part  of  October,  1864,  General  Hood 
was  contemplating  his  invasion  of  Tennessee  and 
Kentucky.  At  that  time  Sherman  was  at  Rome, 
Georgia,  making  his  own  plans  for  a  campaign  through 
Georgia.  On  the  1st  of  November  Grant,  then  at  City 
Point,  asked  Sherman  by  telegraph  if  he  did  not  think 
it  advisable  "now  that  Hood  has  gone  so  far  north,  to 
entirely  ruin  him  before  you  start  on  your  proposed 
campaign"  ?  On  the  next  day  Sherman  answered  that 
if  he  could  hope  to  overhaul  Hood,  he  would  turn  upon 
him  with  his  whole  force,  but  in  that  event  he  thought 
Hood  would  probably  retreat  southwest  to  try  to  decoy 
him  (Sherman)  away  from  Georgia,  which  was  his 
chief  objective  point.  Sherman  added  that  General 
Thomas  would  have  force  enough  to  prevent  Hood  from 
reaching  any  country  in  which  the  Union  Forces  had 
an  interest. 


288  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

Later  in  the  day  of  November  2nd,  Sherman  sent 
another  dispatch  to  Grant  in  which  he  stated:  "If  I 
turn  back  (to  follow  Hood)  the  whole  effect  of  my 
campaign  will  be  lost."  Grant,  having  as  much  con- 
fidence in  Sherman  as  he  had  in  himself,  immediately 
sent  back  the  message :  "I  do  not  see  that  you  can  with- 
draw from  where  you  are  to  follow  Hood.  ...  I 
say,  then,  go  on  as  you  propose."  Sherman  says  in  his 
Memoirs  that  this  was  the  first  time  that  Grant  assented 
to  the  march  to  the  sea. 

There  was  not  the  least  trace  of  prejudice  or  selfish- 
ness in  Grant's  character.  He  never  arrogated  to  him- 
self the  credit  for  making  a  single  movement  which 
properly  belonged  to  another.  Therefore,  he  says  in 
the  Memoirs:  "The  question  of  who  devised  the  plan 
of  march  from  Atlanta  to  Savannah  is  easily  answered ; 
it  was  clearly  Sherman,  and  to  him  also  belongs  the 
credit  of  its  brilliant  execution."  And  Lincoln,  when 
hearing  that  Sherman  had  reached  the  sea,  wrote  him  on 
the  26th  of  December,  1864:  "When  you  were  about 
to  leave  Atlanta  for  the  Atlantic  coast,  I  was  anxious 
if  not  fearful;  but  feeling  that  you  were  the  better 
judge  ...  I  did  not  interfere.  Now,  the  under- 
taking being  a  success,  the  honor  is  all  yours." 

Sherman  began  his  famous  march  to  the  sea  on 
November  14th,  with  an  army  of  60,000  men,  reaching 
Savannah,  a  distance  of  250  miles,  on  December  22nd. 
It  is  worth  while  to  add  in  this  connection,  that  on  the 
1st  of  February  he  began  his  march  northward  and 


IN  THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  SHENAXDOAH  289 

entered  Columbia,  S.  C.,  on  the  17th.  General  Hardee, 
in  command  at  Charleston,  after  destroying  much 
property,  evacuated  the  desolated  city,  which  was  soon 
after  entered  by  the  Federal  troops,  and  on  the  18th 
"Old  Glory"  was  again  waving  over  Fort  Sumter. 
Sherman  pushed  on  northward,  fighting  his  way  and 
reached  Goldsboro,  N.  C.,  March  15th,  having  marched 
425  miles  in  50  days  over  corduroy  roads,  across  rivers, 
through  swamps,  capturing  important  cities  and  depots 
of  supplies,  his  army  "in  superb  order  and  the  trains 
almost  as  fresh  as  when  they  started  from  Atlanta." 

While  his  lieutenants  were  thus  successful  in  carry- 
ing out  their  part  of  the  plan,  Grant  was  strengthening 
his  position  before  Petersburg,  and  with  the  approach 
of  spring  the  time  had  come  for  the  master-strategist 
to  draw  in  his  lines  and  concentrate  his  forces  for  a 
final  campaign  which  should  crush  the  rebellion  by  com- 
pelling the  evacuation  of  Richmond  and  the  surrender 
of  Lee's  army. 

This  chapter,  which  deals  with  the  stirring  military 
events  during  the  autumn  of  1864,  cannot  be  closed 
properly  without  a  reference  to  Grant  and  the  election 
of  that  year.  He  was  always  the  man  of  mystery,  from 
the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  war ;  and  he  was  no  less 
a  mystery,  or  more  misunderstood  by  the  politican — and 
even  by  Lincoln — than  in  the  presidential  battle  of 
1864. 

The  President  was  greatly  concerned  about  the  situ- 
ation in  that  year,  because  in  the  October  election 


290  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

Pennsylvania  had  been  carried  by  the  Democrats;  and 
that  state  was  an  important  battle  ground  for  the  elec- 
tion which  was  to  follow  in  November.  Colonel 
Alexander  K.  McClure,  who  was  a  leader  in  the  Re- 
publican party  in  that  state,  was  called  to  Washington, 
to  advise  with  the  President.  In  his  Lincoln  and  Men 
of  War-Times,  he  gives  an  account  of  the  interview. 
He  says  he  found  Lincoln's  face  shadowed  with  sorrow 
over  the  prospect,  and  in  the  conversation  he  asked  the 
Colonel :  "Well,  what  is  to  be  done  ?"  The  answer  was 
that  "Grant  was  idle  in  front  of  Petersburg,"  and  if 
5,000  Pennsylvania  soldiers  could  be  furloughed  home 
for  two  weeks  from  each  army  the  election  could  be 
carried  without  doubt.  When  Colonel  McClure  made 
this  suggestion  the  President  was  silent  and  distressed, 
and  after  hesitating  for  some  time  he  is  quoted  by  the 
Colonel  as  making  this  remarkable  reply:  "Well 
McClure,  I  have  no  reason  to  believe  that  Grant  prefers 
my  election  to  that  of  McClellan." 

If  Colonel  McClure  quoted  the  President  aright,  the 
latter's  condition  of  mind  in  respect  to  the  General's 
political  attitude  is  incomprehensible ;  for  there  was  not 
the  least  ground  on  which  Lincoln  could  base  the  belief 
that  Grant  did  not  heartily  wish  the  re-election  of  the 
Administration.  Between  Lincoln  and  Grant  had 
passed  letters  more  expressive  of  faith  and  trust  in  each 
other  than  had  ever  before  been  written  by  the  Chief 
Magistrate  of  the  Nation  and  the  Commander-in-chief 
of  the  army.  Each  believed  in  the  other  with  all  his 


IN  THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  SHENANDOAH  291 

soul,  and  mind,  and  strength ;  and  that  in  the  campaign 
of  1864  Lincoln  doubted  Grant's  absolute  loyalty  to  him 
seems  as  incredible  as  would  be  the  statement  that  Grant 
depreciated  the  work  he  himself  had  already  done  in  the 
field,  and  distrusted  the  ability  of  himself  and  his 
armies  to  conquer  Lee  and  save  the  Union. 

Grant  was  as  silent  as  he  was  mysterious.  When 
doing  his  hardest  thinking  and  planning  his  most 
elaborate  campaign,  he  said  the  least  about  it  for  public 
ear.  It  will  be  remembered  that  when  he  was  prepar- 
ing his  first  campaign  against  Lee,  he  said  so  little  about 
it  to  Lincoln  that  the  latter,  in  a  letter  to  Grant  on  the 
30th  of  April,  used  this  language :  "The  particulars  of 
your  plans  I  neither  know  nor  seek  to  know."  And  this 
same  reticence  was  characteristic  of  Grant  in  the  politi- 
cal campaign,  so  far  as  the  general  public,  or  even  the 
Administration,  was  concerned. 

There  was  not  the  slightest  reason  for  Colonel 
McClure  to  say  that  after  that  interview  with  Lincoln, 
"the  name  of  Grant  left  a  bad  taste  in  my  mouth  for 
many  years."  If  the  Colonel  knew  anything  of  Grant 
and  of  the  warm  friendship  existing  between  him  and 
Lincoln,  he  certainly  should  have  known  that  among 
the  things  impossible,  was  the  alleged  indifference  of 
the  Commander-in-chief  as  to  the  fate  of  the  President 
in  the  election.  As  early  as  August  16th,  1864,  Grant 
wrote  Representative  Washburne:  "I  have  no  doubt 
but  the  enemy  are  exceedingly  anxious  to  hold  out  until 
after  the  presidential  election.  They  have  many  hopes 


292  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

from  its  effects.  They  hope  for  a  counter-revolution." 
And  Horace  Porter,  in  his  Campaigning  with  Grant, 
says  the  latter  "never  failed  to  let  it  be  known  (among 
the  troops)  that  he  ardently  desired  the  triumph  of  the 
party  which  was  in  favor  of  vigorously  prosecuting  the 
war." 

Moreover,  when  Grant  had  been  consulted — not  by 
the  Administration — as  to  the  legality  and  advisability 
of  soldiers  voting  in  the  field  when  their  respective 
states  had  made  provision  for  their  so  doing,  he  took  a 
comprehensive  and  statesmanlike  view  of  the  question, 
and  in  a  communication  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  dated 
at  City  Point  on  the  27th  of  September,  1864,  he  said, 
among  many  important  things:  "They  (the  volunteer 
soldiers)  are  American  citizens,  and  because  they  have 
left  their  home  temporarily  to  sustain  the  cause  of  the 
Union,  they  should  not  be  deprived  of  the  right  to  use 
the  ballot,"  while  carrying  the  bayonet;  and  he  sug- 
gested in  a  very  clear  manner,  how  a  soldier's  right  to 
vote  according  to  his  own  convictions  should  be  safe- 
guarded. It  was  generally  known  at  the  time  that  a 
large  majority  of  the  soldiers  in  the  field  would  vote  as 
they  fought,  for  a  prosecution  of  the  war,  and  both  Lin- 
coln and  McClure  must  have  known  of  the  existence  of 
Grant's  communication  to  Stanton — a  document  which 
removed  any  doubt  as  to  the  General's  fidelity  to  the 
President.  Grant  did  not  vote  on  election  day  for  the 
reason  that  Illinois  had  failed  to  enact  a  law  which  al- 
lowed her  soldiers  to  vote  in  the  field.  But  on  the 


IN  THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  SHENAXDOAH  293 

morning  after  the  election  he  telegraphed  the  Adminis- 
tration: "The  victory  is  worth  more  to  the  country 
than  a  battle  won."  Grant  afterwards  told  Colonel 
McClure,  in  explaining  his  political  attitude  in  1864: 
"It  would  have  been  obviously  unbecoming  on  my  part 
to  give  public  expression  against  a  general  whom  I  had 
succeeded  as  Commander-in-chief  of  the  army."* 

When  Colonel  McClure  says  in  his  interview  with 
Lincoln,  which  has  been  widely  published,  that  Grant 
was  "idle  in  front  of  Petersburg,"  he  little  understood 
what  the  General  was  doing  to  seal  the  fate  of  both 
Petersburg  and  Richmond.  At  the  very  time  the 
Colonel  says  the  General  was  idle,  William  Swinton, 
the  historian,  then  in  the  field,  and  who  was  by  no 
means  partial  to  Grant,  said  that  "he  was  conducting  the 
most  marvellous  siege  of  Richmond — then  more  wonder- 
ful, and  up  to  that  time  as  long,  as  the  siege  of 
Sebastopol ;  and  by  months  of  arduous  labor  Grant  has 
step  by  step  pushed  his  lines"  closer  to  the  enemy. 

If  any  one  wants  to  obtain  a  forcible  idea  of  the  re- 
sponsibility placed  upon  Grant  in  maintaining  the 
sieges  of  Petersburg  and  Richmond,  and  at  the  same 
time  keeping  in  touch  with  the  operations  in  other 
fields,  he  must  read  the  Rebellion  Records  for  only 
four  months — August,  September,  October,  and  Novem- 

*  Colonel  McClure  says  "Sheridan  furloughed  10,000  Pennsyl- 
vania soldiers  (or  a  week,  and  Lincoln  carried  the  state  on  the  home 
vote  of  5,712  majority,  to  which  was  added  the  army  vote  of  14,363." 
The  total  army  vote  of  Pennsylvania  was  20,075,  of  which  McClellan 
received  5,712.  McClellan  was  the  worst  defeated  candidate  ever 
nominated  by  any  one  of  the  great  political  parties  of  the  country. 


294  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

her,  1864.  In  these  volumes,  which  omit  correspon- 
dence, are  2,000  pages  of  telegraphic  orders  relating  to 
matters  in  which  Grant  was  mostly  concerned,  and  a 
large  portion  of  them  required  his  immediate  attention. 
It  was  not  an  unusual  thing  for  him  to  send  and  re- 
ceive from  fifteen  to  twenty-five  dispatches  a  day  at 
City  Point,  nearly  all  of  which  pertained  to  the  army  in 
the  East,  not  including  the  Shenandoah. 

"Grant  idle  in  front  of  Petersburg,"  has  a  queer 
sound  to  all  who  knew  the  General  and  were  acquainted 
with  the  history  of  the  war  on  the  Potomac  at  that 
period.  The  day  never  dawned  from  Belmont  to  Ap- 
pomattox  (except  during  the  short  time  he  was  re- 
lieved by  Halleck,  in  the  spring  of  1862)  when  there 
was  not  evolving  in  his  mind  some  practical  plan  to 
defeat  his  antagonist.  Grant  was  the  quiet  man  of 
plain  manners;  and  the  qualities  which  brought  great 
plans  did  not,  in  his  mind,  comport  with  ostentation  and 
superficial  accomplishments. 


XXXIII. 
HOW  GRANT  REACHED  APPOMATTOX. 

RANT'S  headquarters  remained  at  City 
Point  (on  the  James  river)  during  the  win- 
ter of  1864-65  because  of  its  advantageous 
position.  He  could  communicate  more 
expeditiously  from  that  place  with  the  armies  of  the 
James  and  of  the  Potomac ;  and  it  also  afforded  an  easy 
passage  to  and  from  Washington  should  it  be  necessary 
for  the  General  and  the  authorities  at  the  Capital  to 
hold  personal  interview.  Several  times  Lincoln  visited 
Grant  at  City  Point,  and  many  other  persons  of  note 
from  the  North  found  it  convenient  to  call  on  the  man 
who  was  carrying  the  tremendous  responsibility  of  end- 
ing the  war.  Heroic  as  was  his  determined  purpose, 
and  marvellous  as  were  his  tenacity  of  will  and  fearless- 
ness in  battle,  his  visitors  at  headquarters  found  him 
wearing  the  ornaments  of  courtesy,  gentleness  of  man- 
ner, and  quietness  of  spirit.  His  plain  way  of  living 
astonished  them.  He  was  easily  approached  by  all 


296  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

civilian  callers,  and  they  found  him  an  entertaining 
conversationalist,  but  as  to  his  army  plans,  he  was  the 
silent  man.  Sometimes  he  invited  a  few  of  his  friends 
whom  he  knew  in  Galena,  whose  kindness  to  him  in  the 
days  of  his  adversity  he  always  remembered  with 
gratitude.  To  all  such  acquaintances  he  was  strongly 
attached.  Among  those  guests  was  the  Rev.  John 
H.  Vincent,  his  former  pastor,  who  happened  to  reach 
City  Point  when  Lincoln  was  there;  and  introducing 
him  to  the  President,  the  General  said  with  a  heart  full 
of  earnestness:  "Mr.  President,  this  is  Mr.  Vincent, 
whom  I  heard  preach  every  Sunday  while  I  lived  in 
Galena."  And  when  at  City  Point,  and  while  lunching 
with  General  and  Mrs.  Grant,  Mr.  Vincent  says,  that 
he  reminded  her  of  her  expressed  hope  when  he  left 
Galena  in  1861  (quoted  in  Chapter  fourteen)  concern- 
ing the  promotion  of  her  husband.  With  a  pleasant 
smile  and  much  enthusiasm  she  replied :  "I  knew  what 
was  in  him  if  only  he  had  a  chance  with  the  other  fel- 
lows." As  the  Bishop  says,  the  General's  success  "was 
never  a  surprise  to  the  woman  who  knew  him  best" ; 
and  it  may  be  said  of  the  General  himself,  that  neither 
by  word  nor  manner  did  he  ever  seem  surprised  at  any 
of  his  successful  campaigns. 

Even  in  the  midwinter,  when  the  armies  were  sup- 
posed not  to  be  particularly  active,  mentally  Grant  was 
at  rest  only  during  a  few  sleeping  hours  at  night.  His 
pen  seemed  never  to  lag.  He  kept  his  mind  on  all  the 
departments  of  the  enormous  army  under  his  command. 


HOW  GRANT  REACHED  APPOMATTOX      297 

If  any  one  is  so  dull  as  to  see  nothing  great  in  Grant 
beyond  his  determined  purpose,  courage,  and  uncon- 
querable will  in  battle,  let  him  explain,  if  he  can,  why 
the  General's  comprehensive  mind,  clear-sightedness, 
and  success  of  judgment  so  quietly  manifested,  made 
him  the  central  figure  in  almost  every  great  achievement 
of  the  army.  Many  striking  instances  to  prove  that  he 
was,  have  been  given  already ;  but  one  which  relates  to 
the  operation  of  the  army  of  the  James  in  the  winter  of 
1864-65  when,  to  many  wrongheaded  persons,  he  seemed 
to  be  "idle  in  front  of  Petersburg,"  should  be  included 
in  this  chapter. 

Fort  Fisher,  located  at  the  mouth  of  Cape  Fear 
River,  below  Wilmington,  North  Carolina,  was  occu- 
pied by  the  Confederates.  It  was  of  great  importance 
to  them,  and  being  an  inlet  to  blockade  runners  which 
furnished  the  enemy  supplies,  it  was  strongly  fortified. 
In  December,  1864,  Grant  determined  to  send  an  ex- 
pedition against  the  fort  and  capture  it.  Fort  Fisher 
being  in  Butler's  department,  he  was  entitled  to  the 
right  of  fitting  out  the  land  force  which  was  to  be  sup- 
ported by  a  naval  squadron  commanded  by  Admiral 
Porter.  Butler  entertained  the  notion  that  if  a  steamer 
loaded  with  powder  could  be  run  close  to  the  shore 
under  the  fort  and  exploded,  it  would  create  such  a 
havoc,  that,  with  the  co-operation  of  the  army  person- 
ally commanded  by  himself,  Fisher  was  sure  to  fall. 
The  navy  department  believed  that  the  experiment  sug- 
gested by  Butler  would  succeed.  Grant  did  not  believe 


298  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

in  it  for  obvious  reasons,  but  he  permitted  it  to  be  tried. 
The  boat  load  of  powder  was  exploded  on  the  night  of 
the  24th  of  December,  but  Grant  says  it  produced  "no 
more  effect  on  the  fort,  or  anything  else  on  land,  than 
the  bursting  of  a  boiler  anywhere  on  the  Atlantic  Ocean 
would  have  done."  Butler  did  not  obey  the  instruc- 
tions given  to  him  by  Grant,  and  therefore  the  ex- 
pedition was  a  "gross  and  culpable  failure";  the  event 
leading  to  Butler's  retirement. 

Grant  now  resolutely  purposed  to  take  Fort  Fisher, 
and  to  enforce  his  own  plan  in  taking  it.  He  selected 
General  Terry  to  command  the  land  forces,  and  con- 
fided to  Porter  his  plan  of  action,  and  this  was  made 
known  only  to  a  few  of  the  trusted  officers  in  the  navy 
department  at  Washington.  Thus,  the  quiet  man 
worked  out  the  details  of  the  movement  in  a  singularly 
quiet  way.  This  is  no  place  for  particulars.  Briefly 
stated,  the  army,  under  Terry,  and  the  naval  squadron, 
under  Parter,  worked  in  perfect  harmony ;  and  on  Sun- 
day, January  25th,  1865,  Fort  Fisher  was  captured 
with  169  cannon  and  over  2,000  prisoners. 

It  is  well  to  pause  a  moment  before  we  follow  the 
fortunes  of  the  great  commander  in  his  final  campaign 
and  see  how  the  first  soldier  of  his  age  appeared  to  his 
contemporaries,  and  how  he  is  portrayed  by  careful  and 
judicious  historians.  First,  as  to  his  personal  appear- 
ance. Alexander  H.  Stephens,  Vice  President  of  the 
Confederacy,  was  one  of  the  three  Confederate  com- 
missioners who  entered  our  lines  about  Petersburg  un- 


HOW  GRANT  REACHED  APPOMATTOX  299 

der  army  regulations  on  the  last  of  January,  1865,  to 
confer  with  Grant  at  City  Point,  on  the  basis  for  peace 
negotiations.  But  Grant  having  no  authority  to  meet 
the  commissioners  for  any  such  purpose,  Washington 
was  informed  of  their  presence,  and,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  the  conference  held  between  them  and  Lincoln 
and  Seward  did  not  give  hope  to  the  South.  In  his 
volume,  War  Between  the  States,  Mr.  Stephens  records 
his  surprise  at  the  extreme  simplicity  of  the  General-in 
chief  and  the  absence  of  everything  that  usually  per- 
tains to  rank  and  authority.  He  says : 

"He  was  plainly  attired,  sitting  in  a  log  cabin  busily  writing 
on  a  small  table  by  a  kerosene  lamp.  It  was  night  when  we  ar- 
rived; there  was  nothing  in  his  appearance  or  surroundings  that 
indicated  his  official  rank.  There  were  neither  guards  nor  aides 
about  him.  .  .  .  The  more  I  became  acquainted  with  him  the 
more  I  became  thoroughly  impressed  with  the  very  extraordinary 
combination  of  rare  elements  of  character  which  he  exhibited. 

Dr.  Hosmer,  in  his  Outcome  of  the  Civil  War,  after 
describing  the  dignified  and  precise  Lee,  says : 

"Grant,  on  the  other  hand,  always  homely  and  unimpressive, 
discredited  by  his  ante-bellum  record,  informal  to  the  point  of 
negligence  about  all  details  of  dress  and  manner,  yet  withal 
simple,  intrepid,  honest,  with  an  eye  single  to  the  great  purpose 
which  he  had  adopted — here  is  a  character  that  can  be  embraced; 
he  has  roughness  upon  which  the  human  heart  can  take  hold — 
worth  most  substantial,  but  with  a  foil  of  limitation  that  makes 
him  a  man  among  men." 

And,  concerning  Grant's  work  up  to  the  close  of 
1864,  Dr.  Hosmer  says: 

"In  Grant's  record,  the  masterpiece  is  undoubtedly  the  cap- 
ture of  Vicksburg.  And  yet,  where  shall  we  parallel  the  relent- 
less force  of  will  with  which,  in  1864,  he,  a  man  of  gentle  and 


300  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

humane  nature,  smote  with  his  flesh  and  blood  hammer,  believing 
it  to  be  the  only  way  to  success,  and  even  hardened  his  heart 
toward  Andersonville,  determined  to  secure  by  whatever  sacrifice 
the  salvation  of  his  country?" 

Another  paragraph  from  Dr.  Hosmer  is  well  worth 
quoting  because  it  relates  to  the  tremendous  strain  to 
which  Grant  had  been  subjected  for  eighteen  months : 

"From  the  battle  of  Chattanooga,  in  October,  1863,  to  the 
spring  of  1865,  General  Grant  underwent  severe  trials.  His 
labors  were  incessant,  his  responsibilities  enormous,  his  capacity 
exercised  to  its  fullest.  Nevertheless,  he  was  disappointed  where 
he  tried  hardest;  for  after  a  year's  steady  campaigning,  Rich- 
mond and  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  were  still  defiant. 
Though  Meade  continued  to  command  the  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
Grant  was  always  at  his  side,  the  real  leader;  and  it  was  he 
whom  the  people  judged  for  whatever  that  army  did  or  failed  to 
do.  Meantime,  Sherman,  Sheridan,  and  Thomas  reached  high  dis- 
tinction. Their  success,  no  doubt,  was  in  part  due  to  Grant,  who 
put  those  generals  in  place,  had  a  hand  in  all  their  planning,  if 
he  was  not  absolutely  the  director  of  their  movements;  and  kept 
Lee  from  reinforcing  their  opponents;  but  to  the  popular  eye 
this  was  not  quite  apparent.  Grant's  tenacity,  indeed,  through 
protracted  disaster,  excited  wonder.  Really,  his  heroic  quality 
was  never  more  manifest  than  in  that  long  year's  endurance  of 
hope  deferred;  but  this  is  plainer  in  the  retrospect  than  it  was 
at  the  moment." 

Now  to  return  to  the  armies  before  Petersburg. 

In  February,  Sheridan  had  been  ordered  as  soon  as 
he  could  move  to  make  a  raid  to  the  west  of  Richmond 
to  destroy  canals  and  railroads  in  every  direction.  By 
the  end  of  March,  only  two  of  the  main  lines  of  com- 
munication centering  in  Richmond  and  Petersburg 
were  under  Confederate  control.  Grant's  plan  was  to 
extend  his  lines  to  the  south  and  west  so  as  to  secure 


HOW  GRANT  REACHED  APPOMATTOX      301 

control  of  these,  and  when  Sheridan  should  join  him 
he  proposed  to  make  a  final  attempt  to  cut  all  Lee's 
communication  with  the  outside  world  and  thus  seal  the 
fate  of  the  army  of  Northern  Virginia.  His  chief  fear 
was  that  Lee  would  escape  and  join  Johnston's  army  in 
North  Carolina. 

On  the  night  of  March  25th,  Lee  sent  General  J.  B. 
Gordon  to  make  an  attack  upon  Fort  Steadman,  near 
the  center  of  the  Federal  line  south  of  Petersburg.  The 
attack  was  at  first  successful  and  the  enemy  gained  pos- 
session of  the  works,  but  as  day  dawned,  the  Federals 
rallied,  recaptured  the  fort,  and  took  the  entire  attack- 
ing party  of  4,000  prisoners. 

Sheridan  had  now  arrived,  Sherman  came  up  from 
Goldsboro,  President  Lincoln  joined  them  at  City  Point 
March  27th,  and  these  four  great  chiefs,  full  of  hope 
and  with  complete  confidence  in  one  another,  talked 
over  their  plans  for  the  coming  campaign. 

Nicolay  and  Hay,  in  their  masterly  work  on  the 
Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  after  speaking  of  the  confer- 
ence between  the  President  and  the  generals  at  City 
Point,  say: 

"Sherman  went  back  to  Goldsboro  and  Grant  began  pushing 
his  army  to  the  left  with  even  more  than  his  usual  iron  energy. 
It  was  a  great  army;  it  was  the  result  of  all  the  power  and  wis- 
dom of  the  Government,  all  the  devotion  of  the  people,  all  the 
intelligence  and  teachableness  of  the  soldiers  themselves,  and  all 
the  ability  and  character  which  the  experience  of  mighty  war 
had  developed  in  the  officers.  Few  nations  have  produced  better 
corps  commanders  than  Sheridan,  Warren,  Humphreys,  Ord, 
Wright,  and  Parke,  taking  their  names  as  they  come  in  the  vast 


302  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

sweep  of  the  Union  lines  from  Dinwiddie  Court  House  to  the 
James  in  the  last  days  of  March.  North  of  the  James  was  Weit- 
zel,  vigilant  and  capable.  Between  Grant  and  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  was  Meade,  the  incarnation  of  industry,  zeal,  and  tal- 
ent; and  in  command  of  all  was  Grant,  then  in  his  best  days,  the 
most  extraordinary  military  temperament  this  country  has  ever 
seen.  When  unfriendly  criticism  has  exhausted  itself,  the  fact 
remains,  not  to  be  explained  away  by  any  reasoning,  subtle  or 
gross,  that  in  this  tremendous  war  he  accomplished  more"  with  the 
means  given  him  than  any  other  two  on  either  side.  The  means 
given  him  were  enormous,  the  support  of  the  Government  was 
intelligent  and  untiring;  but  others  had  received  the  same  means 
and  the  same  support — and  he  alone  captured  three  armies.  The 
popular  instinct  which  hails  him  as  our  greatest  general  is  cor- 
rect; and  the  dilettante  critics  who  write  ingenious  arguments  to 
prove  that  one  or  another  of  his  subordinates  or  his  adversaries 
was  hia  superior  will  please  for  a  time  their  diminishing  coteries, 
and  then  pass  into  silence  without  damaging  his  robust  fame." 

Hardly  any  incident  more  clearly  illustrates  Grant's 
mysterious  character  than  his  plan  of  organizing  the 
spring  campaign  of  1865.  Sheridan,  the  intrepid 
fighter  of  the  Shenandoah,  and  his  army,  had  been 
transferred  by  Grant  from  the  Valley  to  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac.  About  the  time  the  conference  was  held 
at  City  Point  at  which  Lincoln,  Grant,  and  Sherman 
were  present,  there  was  much  restlessness  in  the  North 
because  of  the  seemingly  slow  movment  of  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac.  It  was  a  rainy  season,  and  for  some  days 
neither  the  artillery  nor  the  cavalry  could  make  success- 
ful movements.  But  during  this  apparent  delay  Grant 
was  at  his  best.  He  was  preparing  plans  for  a  supreme 
movement  against  the  enemy.  To  some  of  his  instruc- 


HOW  GRANT  REACHED  APPOMATTOX  303 

tions  to  the  army — carefully  drawn  by  himself — 
Rawlins,  his  chief-of-staff,  who  had  been  at  the 
General's  side  in  every  great  campaign,  took  exceptions 
expressed  in  both  vigorous  speech  and  action.  But  the 
charm  of  Grant's  temper  did  not  desert  him,  and  after 
Rawlins  had  given  vent  to  his  feelings  concerning  a 
portion  of  the  instructions  to  the  army,  the  General,  in 
a  state  of  the  utmost  tranquility,  and  with  a  face  more 
impassive  than  usual,  said :  "Well,  Rawlins,  I  think  you 
had  better  take  command."  This  was  like  spiking 
the  enemy's  guns. 

When  Sheridan  reached  City  Point  and  read  the 
letter  of  instructions,  he  also  became  vehement  in  his 
opposition  to  that  portion  which  seemed  to  foreshadow 
his  joining  Sherman  for  the  purpose  of  crushing 
Johnston's  army.  But  Grant  loved  Rawlins  and 
Sheridan  and  could  not  wrangle  with  them.  He  was 
never  provoked  to  excitement,  and  whatever  may  have 
been  his  feelings  on  an  occasion  of  this  kind,  he  did  not 
show  the  slightest  ill  temper.  He  was  planning  a  move- 
ment of  the  army  which  contemplated  a  great  victory 
for  Sheridan,  and  not  many  days  hence  would  compel 
the  evacuation  of  Petersburg  and  Richmond,  and  the 
surrender  of  Lee. 

Grant  had  a  twofold  purpose  in  giving  such  in- 
structions to  Sheridan  which  he  could  not  understand 
until  it  was  clearly  and  quietly  explained  to  him  by  the 
Commander-in-chief.  Grant  had  determined  to  bring 


304  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

the  war  to  an  end  then  and  there,  and  making  this  pur- 
pose known  to  Sheridan,  the  face  of  the  Shenandoah 
hero  brightened  up,  and  Grant  says,  "slapping  his 
hand  on  his  leg  he  exclaimed,  'I  am  glad  to  hear  it, 
and  we  can  do  it'." 


XXXIV. 

GRANT  AND  LEE  SHAKE  HANDS. 

HE  onward  movement  of  Grant's  army  in 
accordance  with  his  instructions  of  the 
24th  of  March,  supplemented  by  those  of 
the  28th,  began  on  the  29th.  It  was  the 
beginning  of  the  end.  Sheridan  was  to  attack  the  Con- 
federate right.  Lee  hurried  reinforcements  to  the 
threatened  point  and  a  hot  struggle  took  place  at  Five 
Forks  on  April  1st,  in  which  Sheridan  was  completely 
successful,  putting  the  enemy  to  flight  and  capturing 
6,000  prisoners.  As  soon  as  Grant  heard  that  Sheri- 
dan was  in  possession  of  Five  Forks  he  ordered  a  gen- 
eral attack  upon  the  defences  of  Petersburg.  There 
was  no  hesitation  and  no  blunder  this  time.  Each 
division  of  the  army  did  its  work  effectively.  One  po- 
sition after  another  was  taken,  so  that  before  noon, 
April  2nd,  Grant  rode  his  horse  over  the  parapet  of 
the  outer  fortifications,  and  at  4 :40  p.  M.  sent  word  to 


306  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

City  Point  where  the  President  was  waiting:  "We  are 
now  up  and  have  a  continuous  line  of  troops,  and  in  a 
few  hours  will  be  entrenched  from  the  Appomattox  be- 
low Petersburg  to  the  river  above.  .  .  •  .  The  whole 
captures  since  the  army  started  out  gunning  will 
amount  to  not  less  than  12,000  men,  and  probably  50 
pieces  of  artillery.  ...  I  think  the  President 
might  come  out  and  pay  us  a  visit  to-morrow." 

Grant  ordered  a  bombardment  of  Petersburg  to 
begin  at  5  o'clock  next  morning,  to  be  followed  by  an 
assault  at  6,  but  before  the  order  could  be  carried  out, 
the  Confederate  army  had  evacuated  the  city.  At  11 
o'clock,  April  2nd,  Lee  had  telegraphed  to  Richmond: 
"I  see  no  prospect  of  doing  more  than  hold  our  posi- 
tion until  night.  I  am  not  certain  that  I  can  do  that." 
It  was  Sunday,  and  Jefferson  Davis  was  in  St.  Paul's 
Episcopal  Church,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  when  the 
dispatch  was  taken  to  him.  He  immediately  left  the 
church  and  gave  orders  for  the  evacuation  of  Richmond. 
The  city  was  in  panic,  and  public  buildings,  ware- 
houses, stores,  private  residences,  were  blown  up  or 
set  on  fire.  The  convicts  from  the  state  prison  escaped 
and  added  new  terror  to  the  pandemonium  that  reigned 
until  a  Federal  force  under  Weitzel  appeared  at  7 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  April  3rd,  and  restored  order. 
Never  was  the  appearance  of  an  enemy  more  welcome 
than  were  the  hated  "Yanks"  to  the  terror  stricken 
citizens  of  Richmond. 

The  plans  and  combinations  of  Grant  contemplated 


GRANT  AND  LEE  SHAKE  HANDS        307 

precisely  the  event  that  had  occurred,  the  defeat  of 
Lee,  and  his  retreat  in  haste  from  Petersburg  and  Kich- 
mond.  It  was  not  meant  that  in  any  contingency  he 
should  be  permitted  to  escape.  The  fatal  hour  had  come 
to  the  Commander  of  the  Confederate  army.  Grant's 
attack  along  his  whole  line  the  day  after  Five  Forks  was 
so  complete  that  Lee  said:  "I  had  to  stretch  my  lines 
until  they  broke." 

When  General  Grant  found  that  Lee  had  evacuated 
Petersburg,  he,  with  General  Meade,  entered  the  town 
in  time  to  see  the  flying  Confederates  moving  through 
some  of  the  streets  and  along  the  river  bottom.  He  says 
that  he  did  not  have  the  artillery  brought  up  because 
he  expected  to  push  on  immediately  in  pursuit,  and 
adds:  "I  had  not  the  heart  to  turn  the  artillery  upon 
such  a  mass  of  defeated  and  fleeing  men,  and  I  hope  to 
capture  them  soon." 

While  everything  had  gone  according  to  the  plans 
that  Grant  had  made  when  he  first  ordered  Sheridan  to 
advance,  he  had  not  told  Mr.  Lincoln  for  fear  that  the 
plan  might  miscarry  and  another  disappointment  be 
added  to  the  many  the  long-suffering  President  had 
known  for  the  past  three  years,  but  after  the  capture  of 
Petersburg  he  telegraphed  Mr.  Lincoln  to  ride  out  and 
see  him  there.  All  the  troops  had  started  in  pursuit  of 
the  enemy  and  not  a  person  or  an  animal  could  be  seen 
on  the  streets.  Grant  and  his  staff  awaited  the  arrival 
of  the  President  on  the  piazza  of  a  deserted  house.  The 
first  thing  Mr.  Lincoln  said  after  congratulations  and 


308  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

thanks  was :  "Do  you  know,  General,  that  I  have  had  a 
sort  of  sneaking  idea  for  some  days  that  you  intended 
to  do  something  like  this  ?"  The  President  soon  after 
returned  to  City  Point,  and  Grant  rode  off  to  join  the 
pursuing  army. 

The  army  of  Northern  Virginia  was  fleeing  for  its 
life.  Lee's  plan  was  to  hurry  south  and  unite  with 
Johnston  and  strike  Sherman,  but  his  rations  had  failed, 
and  he  found  that  Grant  had  cut  the  railway  south  of 
him.  This  was  next  to  the  last  crushing  blow  to  Lee. 
Grant  and  his  generals,  determined  to  end  the  war 
there,  pushed  on  with  the  greatest  vigor  and  fell  upon 
the  rear  and  flanks  of  the  enemy,  who  from  time  to 
time  turned  to  strike  his  pursuers.  At  Sailor's  Creek  a 
sharp  conflict  took  place  on  the  6th,  resulting  in  the 
defeat  of  the  Confederates  with  a  loss  of  1,700  prison- 
ers and  a  large  amount  of  equipment.  Sheridan,  see- 
ing the  possibilities  of  ultimate  success,  ended  his  report 
by  saying:  "If  the  thing  is  pressed,  I  think  Lee  will 
surrender."  Grant  sent  the  dispatch  to  Lincoln,  who 
instantly  replied:  "Let  the  thing  be  pressed."  The 
pursuit  continued  during  the  7th  when  it  became  ap- 
parent that  the  Confederate  army  was  going  to  pieces. 
Grant  became  convinced  that  Lee  would  be  willing  to 
consider  a  proposal  to  surrender.  Sitting  at  his  head- 
quarters on  the  piazza  of  a  village  tavern  at  Farmville, 
fifteen  miles  a  little  southeast  of  Appomattox  Court 
House,  while  his  soldiers  marched  by  with  bands  play- 
ing and  with  every  possible  demonstration  of  joy,  the 


GRANT  AND  LEE  SHAKE  HANDS        309 

mysterious,  silent  man  was  thinking,  not  how  he  could 
win  further  honors  to  himself,  but  how  he  could  most 
quickly  end  this  struggle  and  how  he  could  bring  about 
that  end  with  least  humiliation  to  his  fallen  foe. 

The  Confederate  forces  had  been  reduced  to  such 
a  "ragged,  weary,  starved  remnant,"  that  on  Friday, 
April  7th,  Lee's  corps  commanders  suggested  to  him 
that  the  time  had  come  for  negotiations  for  peace.  And 
on  the  evening  of  the  same  day  while  at  Farmville, 
Grant  sent  to  Lee  the  following  note  under  a  flag  of 
truce : 

"The  results  of  the  last  week  must  convince  you  of  the  hope- 
lessness of  further  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia  in  this  struggle.  I  feel  that  it  is  so,  and  regard  it  as  my 
duty  to  shift  from  myself  the  responsibility  of  any  further  effu- 
sion of  blood,  by  asking  of  you  the  surrender  of  that  portion  of 
the  Confederate  States  army  known  as  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia." 

This  was  answered  within  one  hour,  and  although 
his  forces  were  crushed  to  pieces  and  his  chance  of  suc- 
cess was  gone  forever,  Lee  said  that  he  did  not  enter- 
tain the  opinion  expressed  by  Grant  regarding  the 
hopelessness  of  further  resistance  on  the  part  of  the 
Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  but  was  willing  to  ask  for 
terms  of  surrender.  Grant,  of  course,  was  not  satisfied 
with  the  tone  of  Lee's  reply,  and  on  the  following  morn- 
ing, while  yet  at  Farmville,  he  sent  him  a  second  note, 
in  which  he  expressly  stated  that  there  was  but  one 
basis  upon  which  peace  could  be  restored — a  complete 
surrender  of  the  Confederate  forces;  and  Grant  also 


310  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

added  that  he  would  meet  Lee  at  any  point  agreeable 
to  him,  for  the  purpose  of  arranging  terms  of  surren- 
der. This  note  was  received  by  Lee  late  in  the  after- 
noon on  Saturday,  the  8th,  and  in  his  answer  thereto, 
written  after  sundown,  he  insisted  that  while  he  could 
not  meet  Grant  with  a  view  to  surrender  the  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia,  he  would  meet  him  at  10  o'clock 
Sunday  morning  on  the  old  stage  road  to  Richmond 
between  the  picket  lines  of  the  two  armies  to  consider 
the  question  of  peace  so  far  as  it  affected  the  Confed- 
erate States  forces  under  his  command. 

General  Alexander,  in  his  Memoirs  of  a  Confeder- 
ate, says  Lee  had  but  recently  been  appointed  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  all  the  Confederate  armies,  and  that 
he  delayed  the  surrender  of  his  own  army  in  order  that 
the  negotiation  might  include  that  of  all  the  Confeder- 
ates under  his  command. 

But  before  proceeding  further  regarding  the  fa- 
mous correspondence  between  the  two  commanders,  it 
will  be  interesting  to  note  the  attitude  of  Lee  and  his 
generals  towards  the  proposition  to  surrender.  Imme- 
diately prior  to  a  conference  of  Lee's  corps  command- 
ers at  which  they  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  time 
had  come  when  their  chief  should  have  a  personal  in- 
terview with  Grant,  General  Pendleton,  Lee's  chief  of 
artillery,  had  a  consultation  with  the  General  on  the 
subject  of  surrender.  A  part  of  what  the  Confederate 
chief  said  to  Pendleton  is  told  in  Dr.  J.  William  Jones' 


GRANT  AND  LEE  SHAKE  HANDS        311 

Life  and  Letters  of  Robert  Edward  Lee.    Lee,  replying 
to  one  of  Pendleton's  questions  said: 

"We  have  yet  tot)  many  bold  men  to  think  of  laying  down  our 
arms.  The  enemy  do  not  fight  with  spirit,  while  our  boys  still 
do.  Besides,  if  I  were  to  say  a  word  to  the  Federal  commander 
he  would  regard  it  as  such  a  confession  of  weakness  as  to  make  it 
the  occasion  of  demanding  unconditional  surrender — a  proposal 
to  which  I  will  never  listen.  I  have  resolved  to  die  first;  and  if 
it  comes  to  that  we  should  force  through  or  all  fall  in  our  places." 

While  it  may  seem  that  Lee's  courage  had  not  failed 
him,  he  was  not  insensible  of  the  fact  that  his  "game 
was  desperate  beyond  redemption."  Two  words:  "un- 
conditional surrender,"  weighed  heavily  upon  his  mind. 
He  hardly  thought  it  possible  that  the  "glorious  old 
Army  of  Northern  Virginia,"  should  suffer  the  fate  of 
the  Confederate  forces  at  Donelson  and  Vicksburg.  He 
seemed  perplexed  beyond  measure  as  to  what  course  to 
pursue ;  and  yet,  when  General  E.  P.  Alexander  said  to 
him:  "We  have  only  the  choice  of  two  courses,  either 
to  surrender,  or  take  to  the  woods  and  bushes,"  the  lat- 
ter choice  signifying  bushwhacking,  Lee,  as  a  Christian 
man,  said  he  could  not  agree  to  disperse  the  army  in 
this  way ;  General  Alexander  quotes  him  as  saying :  "As 
for  myself,  you  young  fellows  might  go  to  bushwhack- 
ing, but  the  only  dignified  course  for  me  would  be  to  go 
to  Grant  and  surrender  myself  and  take  the  consequen- 
ces of  my  acts." 

Lee's  corps  commanders  had  agreed  on  the  8th  that 
they  would  try  to  cut  their  way  through  to  Appomattox 
Station  early  on  Sunday  morning  the  9th,  and  if  unsuc- 


312  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

cessful  they  should  call  a  halt,  notify  Lee,  who  would 
then  raise  a  flag  of  truce  with  a  view  to  surrendering. 
The  attempt  was  made  to  break  through  the  Federal 
lines,  but  Grant's  forces  stood  like  a  wall  of  adamant 
before  the  jaded  Confederate  lines,  and  a  sullen  gloom 
settled  upon  the  prospects  of  the  enemy.  What  hap- 
pened early  on  Sunday  morning  I  give  in  the  language 
of  Colonel  Charles  S.  Venable  of  Lee's  staff: 

"At  3  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  that  fatal  day  Lee 
rode  forward,  still  hoping  that  we  might  break  through 
the  countless  hordes  of  the  enemy.  .  .  .  Halting 
a  short  distance  in  the  rear  of  our  vanguard,  he  sent 
me  to  Gordon  to  ask  him  if  he  could  break  through  the 
enemy.  Gordon's  reply  to  the  message  was  this :  'Tell 
General  Lee  I  have  fought  my  corps  to  a  frazzle,  and  I 
fear  I  can  do  nothing  unless  I  am  heavily  supported  by 
Longstreet's  corps.'  When  Lee  heard  this  message  he 
said :  'There  is  nothing  left  me  but  to  go  and  see  Grant, 
and  I  would  rather  die  a  thousand  deaths.'  .... 
Said  one :  '0  General,  what  will  history  say  of  the  sur- 
render of  the  army  in  the  field  ?'  He  replied :  'Yes,  I 
know  they  will  say  hard  things  of  us;  .  .  .  but 
that  is  not  the  question,  Colonel ;  the  question  is :  is  it 
right  to  surrender  this  army  ?  If  it  is  right,  then  I  will 
take  all  the  responsibility.' ' 

The  end  had  come.  Any  further  struggle  on  the 
part  of  Lee  to  escape  surrender  would  be  not  only  hope- 
less but  almost  criminal.  Longstreet,  who  had  known 


GRANT  AND  LEE  SHAKE  HANDS        313 

Grant  in  the  old  army,  tried  to  remove  from  Lee's  mind, 
as  much  as  possible  the  dread  of  meeting  Grant,  by  as- 
suring him  that  the  former  would  not  exact  unreason- 
able terms.  Terrible  as  was  Grant  in  battle,  in  dealing 
with  a  fallen  foe  his  mercy  was  as  tender  as  that  taught 
in  the  gospel  of  the  Son  of  Man.  Little  did  Lee  seem 
to  think  that  in  meeting  his  antagonist  face  to  face,  the 
victor's  innate  kindness,  sympathy,  and  love  of  peace 
would  give  the  vanquished  the  most  magnanimous 
terms  ever  offered  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

Lee's  note  of  the  8th  to  Grant,  saying  that  he  would 
meet  him  on  the  stage  road  between  the  two  picket  lines, 
was  received  by  Grant  about  midnight  on  Saturday,  at 
Meade's  headquarters  at  Curdsville,  eight  miles  north  of 
Farmsville  and  fifteen  miles  east  of  Appomattox  Court 
House. 

On  Saturday  afternoon  Grant  was  attacked  by  a  vio- 
lent sick  headache.  His  suffering  was  greater  than  at 
any  time  since  he  was  thrown  from  his  horse  near  New 
Orleans,  shortly  after  the  siege  of  Vicksburg.  The  last 
week  of  the  campaign  against  Lee  had  been  especially 
severe.  He  was  making  a  supreme  effort  to  capture  the 
Confederate  army.  This  occasioned  intense  mental  and 
physical  strain  and  the  loss  of  sleep.  During  the  night 
of  Saturday,  hot  baths,  mustard  plasters,  and  other 
remedies  were  employed  to  allay  the  pain  and  produce 
sleep,  but  no  good  results  came  from  them.  This  was 


314  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

the  General's  condition  when  Lee's  note  reached  him  at 
midnight.  After  reading  it,  General  Horace  Porter 
makes  Grant  say:  "It  looks  as  if  Lee  still  means  to 
fight ;  I  will  reply  in  the  morning." 

In  answering  Lee's  note  Grant  reminded  him  that 
he  had  no  authority  to  treat  for  peace  on  any  political 
basis,  that  the  proposed  meeting  at  10  o'clock  would 
lead  to  no  good,  and  that  peace  could  only  be  restored 
by  the  South  laying  down  their  arms. 

But  this  note  was  not  received  by  Lee  at  8  :30  A.  M., 
and  fully  expecting  that  Grant  would  accede  to  the  pro- 
posal to  meet  between  the  two  picket  lines  at  10  o'clock, 
the  Confederate  Commander  started  out  to  meet  him. 
General  Alexander  says  Lee  wore  a  full  suit  of  new 
uniform,  with  sword  and  sash,  and  an  embroidered  belt, 
boots,  and  gold  spurs.  Doubtless  Lee  supposed  that  the 
commander  of  all  the  armies  of  the  Union,  who  was 
the  victor  in  so  many  important  battles,  would  be  hardly 
less  brilliantly  uniformed  for  such  an  occasion  than 
himself.  But  a  courier  was  sent  after  Lee  with  a  note 
from  Grant,  which  proved  to  be  the  one  written  early 
that  morning,  declining  an  interview  at  10  o'clock  to 
discuss  the  subject  of  peace. 

Of  course  Lee  was  disappointed.  The  battles  of 
Five  Forks  and  Sailor's  Creek  were  a  sad  reminder 
that  his  army  was  suffering  a  severe  mortal  dwindling, 
and  being  hemmed  in  on  all  sides,  surrender  was  the 
only  alternative.  He  therefore  immediately  sent  Grant 
the  following  note: 


GRANT  AND  LEE  SHAKE  HANDS        315 

"I  received  your  note  of  this  morning  on  the  picket  line 
whither  I  had  come  to  meet  you,  and  ascertain  definitely  what 
terms  were  embraced  in  your  proposal  of  yesterday  with  reference 
to  the  surrender  of  this  army.  I  now  request  an  interview  in 
accordance  with  the  offer  contained  in  your  letter  of  yesterday  for 
that  purpose." 

Grant  received  this  note  at  a  point  about  eight  miles 
east  of  Appomattox  Court  House.  His  headache,  which 
had  been  continuous  and  extremely  painful,  instantly 
ceased,  he  says,  when  he  saw  the  contents  of  Lee's  note ; 
and  immediately  he  wrote  the  following  reply : 

"April  9,  1865. 
"General  R.  E.  Lee,  Commanding  C.  8.  Armies. 

"Your  note  of  this  date  is  but  this  moment  (11:50  A.M.) 
received,  in  consequence  of  my  having  passed  from  the  Richmond 
and  Lynchburg  road  to  the  Farmville  and  Lynchburg  road.  I  am 
at  this  writing  about  four  miles  west  of  Walker's  church  and  will 
push  forward  to  the  front  for  the  purpose  of  meeting  you.  Notice 
sent  to  me  on  this  road  where  you  wish  the  interview  to  take 
place  will  meet  me.  U.  S.  GRANT,  Lieut. -General." 

This  note  was  written  three  or  four  miles  southeast 
of  Appomattox,  and  was  delivered  to  Lee  by  Colonel 
Babcock  of  Grant's  staff,  who  was  authorized  to  make 
necessary  arrangements  for  the  meeting  of  the  two  com- 
manders. General  Alexander  says  in  his  Memoirs  of  a 
Confederate,  that  after  reading  Grant's  note  Lee  said 
he  would  ride  forward  to  meet  Grant,  but  he  was  appre- 
hensive lest  hostilities  might  begin  in  the  rear  on  the 
termination  of  Meade's  truce  of  one  hour  (which  had 
been  granted  late  in  the  forenoon).  Colonel  Babcock 
accordingly  wrote  to  Meade  to  maintain  the  truce  until 
orders  from  Grant  could  be  received.  To  expedite  mat- 


316  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

ters  the  note  was  taken  through  the  Confederate  lines 
by  Colonel  Forsyth  of  Sheridan's  staff,  accompanied  by 
Colonel  Taylor,  Lee's  adjutant. 

It  was  not  strange  that  Lee  feared  hostilities  might 
break  out  at  this  juncture  of  the  negotiations.  The 
general  temper  of  both  armies  was  peculiar.  In  the 
Confederate  forces  there  were  those  who  insisted  on 
fighting  to  the  last  ditch.  General  Anderson  says  that 
the  last  thing  Longstreet  said  to  Lee  as  Grant's  messen- 
ger was  approaching,  was :  "General,  unless  he  offers  us 
honorable  terms,  come  back  and  let  us  fight  it  out." 
Sheridan  and  his  men,  who  were  not  quite  satisfied 
with  their  great  achievements  in  the  Shenandoah  and 
at  Five  Forks  and  Sailor's  Creek,  professed  to  believe 
that  Lee's  last  note  to  Grant  was  only  a  ruse  to  enable 
the  Confederates  to  escape  and  join  Johnston,  and  he 
said  that  if  Grant  would  let  them  go  in  they  would 
whip  the  rebels  where  they  were  in  five  minutes.  But 
Grant's  cool  judgment  prevailed.  He  had  absolute 
faith  in  Lee's  sincerity  in  asking  for  terms,  and  when 
Sheridan  became  impressed  with  this  fact  he  realized 
that  his  army  had  fought  its  last  battle  and  won  its 
last  victory. 

Grant  and  his  staff  followed  Colonel  Babcock  as 
early  as  possible,  and  on  reaching  Appomattox  the  Gen- 
eral was  directed  to  the  house  of  Major  Wilmer 
McLean,  where  he  found  Lee  and  Colonel  Marshall, 
his  military  secretary.  When  the  meeting,  which  was 
quite  cordial,  took  place  between  the  two  commanders, 


GRANT  AND  LEE  SHAKE  HANDS        317 

Grant's  full  staff,  and  Sheridan  and  Ord  were  present, 
but  the  only  officer  accompanying  Lee  was  Colonel  Mar- 
shall.* 

In  his  Life  and  Letters  of  Lee,  Dr.  Jones  states 
that  he  had  the  privilege  once,  in  Lexington,  Virginia, 
of  hearing  the  General  give  his  own  account  of  the  sur- 
render, which  he  says  does  not  differ  on  any  material 
point  from  that  given  by  Grant  in  the  Memoirs.  From 
the  moment  these  two  great  leaders  in  war  met,  Grant's 
whole  object  seemed  to  be  "to  mitigate  as  far  as  lay  in 
his  power  the  bitterness  of  defeat  and  to  soothe  as  far 
as  he  could  the  lacerated  susceptibilities  of  Lee."  And 
Dr.  Bruce,  in  his  Life  of  Lee,  says:  "As  man  and  pa- 
triot, Grant,  like  Lee,  was  fully  equal  to  all  the  highest 
demands  upon  character  in  that  searching  hour.  .  . 
No  one  understood  more  thoroughly  than  he  the  valor, 
fortitude,  and  constancy  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Vir- 
ginia ;  and  to  have  that  army  at  his  mercy  at  last  might 
well  have  raised  undisguised  exultation  in  his  mind, 
and  also  called  up  irrepressible  visions  of  the  most  daz- 
zling political  honors.  If  such  natural  and  justifiable 
thoughts  occurred  to  him,  there  is  no  proof  of  the  fact. 
'I  felt  like  anything,'  he  himself  said,  'rather  than  re- 
joicing at  the  downfall  of  a  foe  who  had  fought  so  long 


*  The  McLean  house,  though  destined  to  immortality  in  history, 
met  a  ignominious  end  in  1893.  Its  owners  projected  a  scheme  of 
moving  it  to  Washington,  and  to  that  end  it  was  pulled  down,  each 
brick  and  timber  being  carefully  numbered ;  but  the  financial  panic  of 
that  year  so  impoverished  the  projectors  that  they  abandoned  the 
plan,  and  the  remains  of  the  building  now  He  upon  the  ground  in 
neglect  and  decay. — Munsey  Magazine,  1908. 


318  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

and  valiantly,  and  suffered  so  much  for  their  cause/ 
generous  hearted  words  which  will  be  cherished  by  all 
his  reunited  countrymen  to  the  remotest  generations. 
Throughout  those  memorable  scenes  he  remained,  what 
he  had  always  been — quiet,  modest,  unpretending,  and 
magnanimous."  Surely  Lee  must  have  found  it  infi- 
nitely easier  to  meet  his  comrade  of  the  old  army  and 
talk  with  him  about  the  terms  of  surrender  than  "to  die 
a  thousand  deaths." 

Grant  says  that  his  own  feelings,  which  had  been 
quite  jubilant  on  the  receipt  of  Lee's  letter  of  Sunday 
morning,  were  sad  and  depressed  at  the  scene  in  the 
McLean  house ;  and  after  describing  Lee's  full  uniform, 
which  was  entirely  new,  he  adds :  "In  iny  rough  travel- 
ing suit  (with  no  sword)  the  uniform  of  a  private  with 
the  straps  of  a  lieutenant-general,  I  must  have  con- 
trasted very  strangely  with  a  man  so  handsomely 
dressed,  six  feet  high  and  of  faultless  form. 

"We  soon  fell  into  a  conversation  about  old  army 
times.  He  remarked  that  he  remembered  me  very  well 
in  the  old  army ;  and  I  told  him  that  as  matter  of  course 
I  remembered  him  perfectly,  but  from  the  difference  in 
our  rank  and  years  (there  being  about  sixteen  years  dif- 
ference in  our  ages),  I  had  thought  it  very  likely  that  I 
had  not  attracted  his  attention  sufficiently  to  be  re- 
membered by  him  after  such  a  long  interval.  Our  con- 
versation grew  so  pleasant  that  I  almost  forgot  the 
subject  of  our  meeting."  This  reminiscent  mood  into 
which  the  Generals  had  quickly  drifted  after  their  greet- 


GRANT  AND  LEE  SHAKE  HANDS         319 

ing,  which  was  a  happy  prelude  to  the  consideration  of 
the  great  question  of  the  hour,  was  closed  temporarily 
only  when  Lee  referred  to  the  real  purport  of  the  inter- 
view, and  asked  Grant  for  the  terms  he  proposed  to  give 
his  army.  Grant,  with  a  firm  voice,  yet  quiet  and  full 
of  kindness,  peculiar  to  him,  replied  that  he  meant  that 
Lee's  army  should  lay  down  their  arms,  not  to  take  them 
up  again  during  the  continuance  of  the  war  unless  duly 
exchanged ;  and  to  this  Lee  assented. 

Grant  was  great  and  mysterious  on  many  occasions 
during  the  war,  but  never  more  so  than  in  the  presence 
of  his  chief  antagonist  at  Appomattox.  He  understood 
that  he  had  no  right  to  make  political  terms  with  Lee, 
but  as  to  the  surrender  on  a  military  basis,  he  did  not 
consult  the  government  at  Washington  as  to  what  he 
should  do.  He  took  upon  himself  the  full  responsi- 
bility of  according  the  most  lenient  treatment  ever  be- 
fore given  to  a  vanquished  foe.  In  his  mental  vision 
he  saw  that  this  was  the  quickest  way  to  finish  the  war 
in  all  parts  of  the  South,  and  in  the  magnanimity  of  his 
soul  he  gave  Lee  the  following  terms : 

"April  9,  1865. 

"GENEBAL:  In  accordance  with  the  substance  of  my  letter 
to  you  of  the  8th  inst.  I  propose  to  receive  the  surrender  of  the 
Army  of  Northern  Virginia  on  the  following  terms,  to  wit:  Rolls 
of  all  the  officers  and  men  to  be  made  in  duplicate,  one  copy  to  be 
given  to  an  officer  or  officers  as  you  may  designate.  The  officers 
to  give  their  individual  paroles  not  to  take  up  arms  against  the 
government  of  the  United  States  until  properly  exchanged;  and 
each  company  or  regimental  commander  to  sign  a  like  parole  for 
the  men  of  their  commands.  .  .  .  The  arms,  artillery,  and 


320  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

public  property  to  be  packed  and  stacked,  and  turned  over  to  the 
officers  appointed  by  me  to  receive  them.  This  will  not  embrace 
the  side-arms  of  the  officers,  nor  their  private  horses,  or  baggage. 
This  done,  each  officer  and  man  will  be  allowed  to  return  to  his 
home,  not  to  be  disturbed  by  the  United  States  authority  so  long 
as  they  observe  their  paroles  and  the  laws  in  force  where  they 
may  reside.  U.  S.  GBANT,  Lieut. -Gen." 

After  reading  the  terms  Lee  expressed  himself  well 
pleased  with  them,  and  he  requested  Colonel  Marshall 
to  write  a  note  of  acceptance.  The  note  began  with  the 
words,  "I  have  the  honor,"  etc.,  but  the  Confederate 
Commander,  despite  Grant's  generosity  which  had 
never  before  been  equalled  in  the  history  of  the  war, 
could  not  soften  his  feelings  quite  enough  to  permit  the 
word  "honor"  to  appear  on  the  record,  and  when  the 
acceptance  was  amended  and  handed  to  Grant  it  was 

in  this  form : , 

"GENEBAI,:  I  have  received  your  letter  of  this  date  con- 
taining the  terms  of  the  surrender  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Vir- 
ginia as  proposed  by  you.  As  they  are  substantially  the  same  as 
those  expressed  in  your  letter  of  the  8th  instant,  they  are  ac- 
cepted. I  will  proceed  to  designate  the  proper  officers  to  carry 
the  stipulation  into  effect.  R.  E.  LEE,  General." 

Grant  could  not  be  otherwise  than  kind  to  the  enemy 
in  such  an  hour  as  that.  Before  parting  at  Appo- 
mattox,  which  was  about  four  o'clock,  Sunday  after- 
noon, Lee  called  Grant's  attention  to  the  fact  that  his 
army  had  been  subsisting  on  parched  corn  for  several 
days,  and  he  asked  the  General  if  he  could  furnish  them 
with  some  25,000  rations.  Grant  promptly  said  Yes, 
and  as  terms  of  surrender  "transcended  in  liberality 
anything  that  Lee  could  have  fairly  expected,"  so  his 


GRANT  AND  LEE  SHAKE  HANDS        321 

generosity  towards  the  famished  enemy  was  greater 
than  Lee  could  possibly  have  asked.  Grant  authorized 
Lee  to  send  his  own  commissary  and  quartermaster  to 
Appomattox  station,  two  or  three  miles  away,  and  call 
for  all  the  rations  his  army  needed.  Grant  did  not 
pose  as  a  conquerer.  He  was  too  modest  and  consider- 
ate to  manifest  pride  over  his  great  victory.  Neither 
would  he  permit  his  army  to  become  jubilant  when  the 
surrender  was  concluded.  The  same  magnanimity 
which  he  showed  Pemberton  at  Vicksburg  was  shown 
Lee  at  Appomattox — the  ordering  that  no  cheering  or 
firing  of  salutes  be  allowed;  and  this  simple  form  of 
surrender,  says  Dr.  Jones  in  his  book,  won  the  highest 
admiration  of  Confederate  soldiers  and  people. 

The  country  did  not  know  what  great  things  were 
transpiring  at  Appomattox  on  the  afternoon  of  Palm 
Sunday,  until  Grant  sent  from  his  headquarters  at 
4:30  o'clock  on  that  day  the  following  dispatch  to  the 
Secretary  of  War  at  Washington : 

"General  Lee  surrendered  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia 
this  afternoon  on  terms  proposed  by  myself." 

Thus,  by  a  dramatic  fitness,  the  last  great  battle  of 
the  war,  and  the  final  surrender  of  the  enemy,  took 
place  upon  the  "sacred  soil  of  the  state  which  drank 
the  blood  of  the  patriotic  heroes  of  July,  1861." 

The  reader  need  not  be  told  of  the  joy  which  filled 
the  Nation's  heart  when  this  message  was  flashed  from 
Washington  to  all  parts  of  the  land.  It  occasioned 
the  most  widespread  praise,  rejoicing,  and  thanks- 


322  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

giving  any  country  ever  experienced.  No  more  of 
Americans  slaying  Americans  in  battle.  The  Union 
was  saved.  But  the  little  man,  in  the  dress  of  a 
private  soldier,  who  commanded  the  armies  which 
brought  about  this  glorious  consummation,  was  not 
among  those  who  joined  in  the  demonstrations  of  joy. 
When  he  reached  his  camp  that  night  he  was  none  other 
than  the  real  Grant — modest,  quiet,  regardless  of  the 
greatness  of  the  occasion.  General  Horace  Porter, 
who  was  with  him  at  the  time,  says  Grant  had  little  to 
say  about  the  surrender,  and  that  it  was  not  until  after 
supper  that  he  freely  expressed  his  belief  that  the  rest 
of  the  Confederate  commanders  would  soon  follow  Lee's 
example. 

The  day  following  the  surrender,  Grant  and  Lee, 
mounted  on  horses,  had  an  interview  between  the  lines 
at  which  matters  of  mutual  interest  were  discussed. 
General  Anderson  says  that  during  the  meeting  of  the 
two  generals  on  the  10th,  Grant  suggested  to  Lee  that 
he  might  serve  the  course  of  peace  by  a  visit  to  Presi- 
dent Davis  and  General  Johnston  who  were  then  in 
North  Carolina,  but  Lee  declined  to  go  on  such  a  mis- 
sion, as  the  surrender  had  made  him  a  private  citizen 
and  he  did  not  wish  to  interfere  with  the  movements 
of  either  Davis  or  Johnston. 

When  Lee  surrendered  there  were  JjtS^S 5 6  officers 
and  men  paroled.  These  were  all  that  were  left  of  the 
Army  oQj[orthern  Virginia.  During  the  eleven  days 
previous  to  the  historic  Palm  Sunday,  in  which  the 


GRANT  AND  LEE  SHAKE  HANDS        323 

battles  of  Five  Forks  and  Sailor's  Creek  were  fought, 
19,132  Confederates  were  captured  who  were  not  in- 
cluded in  the  number  paroled  at  Appomattox;  and  in 
estimating  the  strength  of  Lee's  army  when  Grant  be- 
gan his  final  movement  against  him,  there  must  be 
added  the  enemy's  losses  during  those  eleven  days,  in 
killed,  wounded,  and  missing,  which  would  make  Lee's 
fighting  force  on  the  last  of  March,  1865,  considerably 
over  50,000 ;  besides,  the  number  of  cannon  taken  in 
battle  and  at  Appomattox  and  in  the  desperate  battles 
a  few  days  previous,  was  689.  Grant's  fighting  force 
a^aingtJLe^w^s^l^SjOOO^ 

These  facts,  taken  from  the  official  records,  show 
that  Lee's  army  was  something  more  than  a  mere  rem- 
nant two  weeks  prior  to  the  surrender;  and  they  are 
reproduced  by  Grant  in  the  Memoirs  to  show  that 
northern  writers,  as  well  as  southern,  have  fallen  into 
the  error  of  magnifying  the  number  of  Union  troops 
engaged  in  all  important  battles  and  belittling  the 
strength  of  the  Confederate  forces. 


XXXV. 

THE  LAST  BATTLE-THE  GRAND  REVIEW. 


HE  arrangements  for  paroling  the  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia  were  completed  when 
Grant  appointed  Generals  Gibbon,  Merrit, 
and  Griffin  to  carry  into  effect  the  terms 
agreed  to  on  Sunday,  and  Lee  had  designated  Generals 
Longstreet,  Gordon,  and  Pendleton  to  assist  in  the  work. 
Believing  that  the  war  had  practically  ended,  Grant 
departed  for  Washington  on  Tuesday  the  llth  of  April, 
to  stop  the  enormous  expense  of  furnishing  supplies  for 
an  army  of  nearly  one  million  strong,  600,000  of  which 
were  in  the  field  ready  for  any  movement  the  Com- 
mander-in-chief might  deem  necessary.  During 
Wednesday,  Thursday,  and  Friday  of  that  week,  the 
General  was  busily  engaged  in  issuing  all  necessary 
orders  and  instructions  to  meet  this  new  condition  of 
affairs.  The  work  having  been  finished  in  the  after- 
noon of  the  14th,  Grant  made  arrangements  to  start 
from  Washington  that  night  with  Mrs.  Grant  to  visit 


THE  LAST  BATTLE— THE   GRAND  REVIEW         325 

their  children  at  Burlington,  New  Jersey,  and  while 
preparing  for  this  journey  he  was  invited  by  the  Presi- 
dent to  accompany  him  and  Mrs.  Lincoln  to  Ford's 
theatre  in  the  evening;  but  the  General's  pre-arranged 
plan  to  leave  the  city  made  it  impossible  for  him  to 
accept  the  invitation. 

When  Grant  reached  Philadelphia,  near  midnight, 
he  found  an  excited  multitude  awaiting  him,  and  also 
dispatches  informing  him  of  the  assassination  of  the 
President.  The  import  of  the  telegrams  was  that  the 
presence  in  Washington  of  the  Commander-in-chief  of 
the  National  forces  would  allay  serious  apprehensions. 
As  quickly  as  possible  Grant  returned  by  a  special  train 
to  the  Capital,  to  find  the  city  overwhelmed  with  grief. 
As  quickly  as  the  assassin's  shot  could  be  fired  the 
Nation's  noon  of  joy  was  merged  in  the  midnight  of 
sorrow. 

With  the  surrender  at  Appomattox  there  was  not  a 
glimmer  of  hope  for  any  other  portion  of  the  Con- 
federate army  to  escape  the  fate  of  the  Army  of  North- 
ern Virginia.  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  in  North 
Carolina,  had  the  strongest  force  in  the  field,  but  on  the 
18th  of  April,  seeing  that  the  Confederacy  was  col- 
lapsing, he  entered  into  an  agreement  with  Sherman, 
who  was  pressing  him  to  the  death,  to  make  a  condi- 
tional surrender  under  truce  which  was  to  remain  in 
force  until  the  agreement  could  be  sent  to  Washington 
for  approval.  As  is  well  known,  Sherman  added  to  the 
terms  Grant  had  given  Lee  some  matters  of  a  political 


326  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

character.  It  was  quite  natural  that  Sherman  should 
make  such  conditional  terms  with  Johnston,  and  Grant 
says  that  he  no  doubt  thought  he  was  but  carrying  out 
the  wishes  of  President  Lincoln — intimating,  it  seems, 
that  this  thought  was  based  on  a  conversation  with 
Lincoln  at  the  conference  held  at  Hampton  Roads  on 
the  28th  of  March.  But  there  were  stronger  reasons 
than  this  which  led  Sherman  to  include  a  little  political 
matter  in  the  agreement  with  Johnston,  subject,  of 
course,  to  the  approval  of  the  Administration.  The 
order  of  the  President  of  the  3rd  of  March  instructing 
Grant  to  make  no  political  terms  with  Lee  had  not  been 
sent  to  Sherman  by  Stanton,  and  the  latter  never  com- 
municated with  him  in  advance  the  purpose  of  the 
Administration  to  limit  negotiations  with  the  enemy 
to  purely  military  matters.  In  addition  to  this,  Sher- 
man justifies  himself  in  making  those  conditional  terms 
with  Johnston  by  stating  that  when  Stanton  was  at 
Savannah,  after  the  famous  march  to  the  sea  had  split 
the  Confederacy  in  twain,  the  Secretary  authorized  him 
to  control  all  matters  civil  and  military. 

The  agreement  was  repudiated  by  the  Administra- 
tion, and  before  Sherman  could  be  informed  of  this 
action  Stanton  caused  the  document,  together  with  the 
seal  of  condemnation,  to  be  made  public,  which  was  an 
unwarranted  insult  to  Sherman;  and  Grant  says  that 
his  own  feelings  were  as  much  excited  by  this  outrage 
as  Sherman's.  It  was  not  a  document  to  be  publicly 
condemned  in  a  vituperative  spirit,  as  was  done  by 


THE  LAST  BATTLE— THE   GRAND  REVIEW         327 

Stanton,  but  to  be  privately  considered  by  President 
Johnson  and  his  cabinet,  and  if  annulled,  to  be  returned 
to  Sherman  for  correction. 

We  get  from  this  incident  another  illustration  of  the 
beautiful  friendship  between  Grant  and  Sherman,  one 
which  shows  the  sublime  unselfishness  of  the  Command- 
er-in-chief. On  April  21st,  Grant  was  directed  by 
Stanton  to  proceed  immediately  to  Sherman's  head- 
quarters at  Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  and  take  charge  of 
the  operations  against  the  enemy,  or  in  other  words,  to 
supersede  his  friend  Sherman.  The  General  departed 
for  the  South  at  once,  but  with  a  definite  purpose  to  pay 
no  heed  to  Stanton's  order  to  direct  further  movements 
against  Johnston.  True  friend  that  he  was  to  Sher- 
man, Grant  did  not  propose  to  humiliate  him  by  seem- 
ing to  be  officious  in  commanding  what  should  be  done 
with  Johnston,  neither  would  he  take  from  him  the 
honor  of  receiving  the  surrender  of  the  enemy.  Quietly 
he  entered  Raleigh,  but  few  of  the  officers  of  the  army 
knowing  that  he  was  present. 

Privately  conferring  with  Sherman,  Grant  showed 
him  the  terms  with  Lee,  and  told  him  to  inform  John- 
ston that  the  conditional  agreement  of  the  18th  had  been 
revoked  by  the  President  and  the  Secretary  of  War,  and 
that  he  had  full  authority  to  offer  him  the  same  terms 
on  which  Lee  surrendered  to  Grant.  This  was  as  far 
as  Grant  went  in  obeying  Stanton's  instructions  to 
take  charge  of  the  operations  against  the  enemy.  When 
Sherman  told  Johnston  that  the  agreement  of  the  18th 


328  ORANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

had  been  repudiated  at  Washington,  and  that  he  must 
follow  Lee's  example  in  surrendering,  Johnston  yield- 
ed to  the  inevitable,  and  on  the  26th  of  April  a  full  sur- 
render was  made.  Not  willing  to  take  to  himself  credit 
for  what  had  been  done,  Grant  telegraphed  the  Govern- 
ment, "Johnston  has  surrendered  to  Sherman" ;  and  as 
quietly  as  he  entered  Raleigh,  Grant  departed  from  it 
and  returned  to  Washington.  The  number  of  Con- 
federates laying  down  their  arms  in  Johnston's  com- 
mand was  89,270.* 

After  the  surrender  of  Johnston  the  disintegration 
of  the  Confederacy  was  rapid.  Within  a  few  days  all 
forts  and  garrisons  fell.  On  the  4th  of  May,  General 
Dick  Taylor,  son  of  General  Zachary  Taylor,  of  Mexi- 
can War  fame,  and  afterwards  President,  surrendered 
all  his  command  east  of  the  Mississippi,  and  General 
James  H.  Wilson  made  a  cavalry  raid  through  Florida 
and  Georgia  which  resulted  in  the  capture  of  Jefferson 
Davis  on  the  llth  of  May  at  Irwinsville.  General  E. 
Kirby  Smith,  commanding  the  trans-Mississippi  de- 
partment, surrendered  to  General  Canby  on  the  26th  of 
May. 

The  work  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  was 
accomplished.  The  Union  was  no  longer  threatened 
by  an  armed  foe.  But  the  armies  of  the  East  and  of  the 
Middle  West  could  not  stack  their  arms  and  rejoin  the 


*At  the  funeral  of  General  Sherman  (he  died  in  New  York,  Febru- 
ary 14th,  1891)  the  Confederate  commander,  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  was 
one  of  the  pall-bearers. 


THE  LAST  BATTLE— THE   GRAND  REVIEW         329 

great  body  of  citizens  without  making  one  more  march 
which  will  ever  be  memorable  in  the  history  of  the 
volunteers  in  the  Civil  War.  It  was  ordered  by  the 
Adjutant  General  of  the  army,  that  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac,  and  so  much  of  the  army  of  Sherman  as  was 
stationed  within  marching  distance  of  Washington, 
should  pass  in  review  before  the  President  and  General 
Grant  on  the  23rd  and  24th  of  May.  One  week  had 
been  devoted  by  the  officials  in  Washington  to  preparing 
for  the  event.  The  weather  behaved  remarkably  well. 
On  a  platform  in  front  of  the  White  House  were  the 
President,  Grant,  members  of  the  cabinet,  Judges  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  and  many  prominent  generals  and 
admirals  of  the  army  and  navy. 

Tuesday,  with  its  golden  sun,  inaugurated  the 
grandest  military  pageant  ever  witnessed  on  this  Ameri- 
can continent.  The  day  was  given  to  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  headed  by  General  Meade.  This  Army  had 
fought  more  hard  battles,  suffered  greater  losses,  and 
made  more  successful  flank  movements  in  the  short 
space  of  six  weeks  (from  May  4th  to  June  18th,  1864) 
than  any  army  of  which  we  have  record.  It  was  a 
formidable  host — 100,000  strong.  It  started  from  "the 
shadow  of  the  dome  of  the  capitol  and  filled  that  wide 
thoroughfare  (Pennsylvania  avenue)  to  Georgetown, 
moving  with  the  easy  yet  rapid  pace  of  well  trained 
veterans." 

Wednesday,  the  24th,  was  a  great  day  for  Sherman's 
army  which  had  made  the  victorious  march  from 


330  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

Atlanta  to  the  Sea — famous  in  song  and  story.  The 
General  rode  at  the  head  of  the  column  composed  of 
65,000  rugged  and  orderly  soldiers.  The  General  and 
his  troops,  and  the  music,  Marching  Through  Georgia, 
which  was  inseparable  from  the  occasion,  "were  re- 
ceived by  the  dense  multitude  that  thronged  the  avenue 
with  a  deafening  and  prolonged  tumult  of  rapturous 
plaudits." 

There  were  several  regiments  from  the  West  in 
Meade's  army,  and  the  East  contributed  the  contingent 
which  Howard  and  Hooker  took  to  Chattanooga  and 
afterward  remained  in  the  Middle  West,  but  in  the 
main  Sherman's  troops  were  Western  men,  therefore, 
say  Nicolay  and  Hay,  "in  the  review,  they  were  scanned 
with  keen  and  hospitable  interest  by  the  vast  crowd  of 
spectators  who  were  mainly  'from  the  East.  There  was 
little  to  choose  between  the  two  armies ;  a  trifle  more  of 
neatness  and  discipline,  perhaps,  among  the  veterans  of 
Meade,  a  slight  preponderance  in  physique  and  in 
swinging  vigor  of  march  among  the  Westerners ;  but  the 
trivial  differences  were  lost  in  the  immense  and  evident 
likeness,  as  of  brothers  in  one  family.  There  was  a 
touch  of  the  grotesque  in  the  march  of  Sherman's 
legions  which  was  absent  from  the  well-ordered  corps 
of  Meade. 

"As  a  mere  spectacle,  this  march  of  the  mightest 
host  the  continent  has  ever  seen  gathered  together  was 
grand  and  imposing,  but  it  was  not  as  a  spectacle  alone 
that  it  affected  the  beholder  most  deeply.  It  was  not 


THE  LAST  BATTLE— THE   GRAND  REVIEW         331 

a  mere  holiday  parade;  it  was  an  army  of  citizens  on 
their  way  home  after  a  long  and  terrible  war.  And  the 
thoughtful  diplomatists  who  looked  on  the  scene  from 
the  reviewing  stand  could  not  help  seeing  that  there  was 
a  conservative  force  in  an  intelligent  democracy  which 
the  world  had  never  before  known." 

Thus  ended  on  Wednesday  a  peaceful  demonstration 
of  volunteer  soldiers  such  as  no  other  land  ever  saw,  and 
as  this  land  will  never  see  again.  The  great  armies 
which  had  saved  the  Union  passed  up  Pennsylvania 
Avenue  out  of  mortal  sight  and  into  everlasting  history. 
Henceforth  and  forever  the  names  of  the  armies  of  the 
Potomac  and  of  the  Middle  West  are  names  to  conjure 
with.  The  irresistible  force  of  this  mighty  host,  which 
had  been  wielded  in  battle  for  four  long  years,  was  to 
melt  away  and  vanish  in  a  day,  but  their  great  deeds 
were  recorded  and  they  left  behind  results  far  greater 
than  themselves — imperishable  achievements  in  the 
world's  constant  contest  for  human  rights. 

Horace  Greeley,  in  complimenting  the  soldiers  in 
this  Grand  Review  and  their  comrades  in  other  de- 
partments of  the  great  battle  field,  closes  his  American 
Conflict  with  this  sentence :  "Rapidly,  as  well  as  peace- 
fully and  joyously,  were  the  mightiest  hosts  ever  called 
to  the  field  by  a  republic  restored  to  the  tranquil  paths 
of  industry  and  thrift,  melting  back  by  regiments  into 
quiet  citizenship,  with  nothing  to  distinguish  them  from 
others,  but  the  proud  consciousness  of  having  served 
and  saved  their  country." 


XXXVI. 

GRANT  AS  A  COMMANDER. 

I  RANT  as  a  commander  will  ever  be  the 
theme  of  a  story  of  peculiar  interest.  As 
a  campaigner,  and  a  winner  of  battles,  his- 
tory does  not  furnish  his  superior,  and  but 
few,  if  any,  who  are  his  equal.  From  the  day  he  com- 
manded the  21st  Illinois  Infantry  to  the  event  at  Ap- 
pomattox,  he  was  successful  in  every  great  military 
operation  under  his  immediate  direction.  He  never 
lost  a  battle  when  he  fought  the  enemy  in  the  open; 
and  when  he  began  a  movement  against  his  antagonist, 
as  in  the  Virginia  campaign,  though  twice  temporarily 
checked  because  of  the  enemy's  entrenchments,  Grant 
did  not  swerve  from  his  main  purpose,  and  in  the  end 
he  was  successful.  He  stands  pre-eminent  among  all 
the  generals  who  served  in  the  Civil  War  in  the  com- 
pleteness of  his  final  results.  He  owed  nothing  to 
accident;  and  both  in  the  West  and  the  East,  he  ac- 
complished the  most  arduous  undertakings. 


GRANT  A8  A  COMMANDER  333 

If  anyone  is  so  dull  or  prejudiced  that  he  sees 
nothing  great  in  Grant  beyond  his  marvellous  tenacity 
of  will,  let  him  explain,  if  he  can,  how  it  came  to  pass 
that  this  quality  was  always  exerted  in  conspicuous 
energy,  precisely  at  the  point  on  which  everything  in 
his  whole  sphere  of  operations  hinged.  He  never  dis- 
played great  qualities  on  small  occasions ;  he  never  put 
forth  herculean  efforts  to  accomplish  objects  not  of  the 
first  magnitude. 

Many  military  critics  have  wondered  where  Grant 
got  his  genius.  It  had  never  been  displayed  on  any 
occasion  previous  to  the  Civil  War.  The  late  George 
S.  Boutwell,  United  States  Senator  from  Massachu- 
setts, says  Grant's  military  genius  was  simply  a  part 
of  his  nature ;  God  gave  it  to  him ;  and  almost  by  in- 
tuition he  knew  what  should  be  done  in  an  emergency. 
"Grant  could  go  on  the  field  and  post  a  line  of  battle 
in  twenty  minutes,  while  another  military  man  who 
had  been  a  hard  student,  might  take  a  day  or  two  to  do 
the  same  thing."  Grant's  military  genius  was  remark- 
ably displayed  in  the  Vicksburg  campaign,  and  at 
Chattanooga ;  and  his  capability  of  grasping  with  suc- 
cess the  whole  situation  at  a  glance,  was  fully  recog- 
\  *}  nied  when  he  was  given  command  of  all  the  armies  of 
tlie  Union. 

When  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  held  its  annual 
meeting  in  Chicago  in  November,  1879,  Colonel  Wil- 
liam F.  Vilas,  a  Democrat  of  the  old  school,  afterwards 


334  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

a  member  of  President  Cleveland's  cabinet  and  United 
States  Senator  from  Wisconsin,  said,  in  his  great  ora- 
tion on  Grant: 

"How  like  a  weapon  in  a  giant's  hand,  did  he  wield 
the  vast  aggregations  of  soldiery,  whose  immensity  op- 
pressed so  many  minds!  How  every  soldier  came  to 
feel  his  participation  a  direct  contribution  to  the  gen- 
eral success!  And  when,  at  length,  his  merit  won  the 
government  of  the  entire  military  power  of  the  North, 
how  perfect  became,  without  noise  or  friction,  the 
cooperation  of  every  army,  of  every  strength  through- 
out the  wide  territory  of  the  war,  toward  the  common 

end Then  how  rapidly  crumbled  on  every 

side  the  crushed  revolt !  Where  shall  we  find  in  past 
records  the  tale  of  such  a  struggle,  so  enormous  in  ex- 
tent, so  nearly  matched  at  the  outset,  so  desperately 
contested,  so  effectively  decided!  Through  what  a 
course  of  uninterrupted  victories  did  he  proceed  from 
the  earliest  engagements  to  a  complete  dominion  of  the 
vast  catastrophe !" 

James  G.  Elaine  was  a  candid  critic,  and  when 
asked  to  deliver  an  address  on  Grant  at  Portland,  Me. 
August  8th,  1885,  speaking  of  his  genius  as  a  comman- 
der, he  said : 

"Grant's  military  supremacy  was  honestly  earned, 
without  factious  praise  and  without  extraneous  help. 
He  had  no  influence  to  urge  his  promotion  except  such 
as  was  attracted  by  his  own  achievements.  He  had  no 
potential  friends  except  those  whom  his  victories  won  to 


GRANT  A8  A  COMMANDER  335 

his  support.  He  exhibited  extraordinary  qualities  in 
the  field.  Bravery  among  American  officers  is  a  rule 
which  has,  happily,  had  few  exceptions ;  but  as  an  emi- 
nent general  said,  'Grant  possessed  a  quality  above 
bravery.  He  had  an  insensibility  to  danger,  appar- 
ently, an  unconsciousness  of  fear.  Besides  that,  he 
possessed  an  evenness  of  judgment  to  be  depended  upon 
in  sunshine  and  in  storm.'  Napoleon  said,  'The  rarest 
attribute  among  generals  is  2  o'clock-in-the-morning 
courage.'  No  better  description  could  be  given  of  the 
type  of  courage  which  distinguished  General  Grant. 
In  his  services  in  the  field  he  never  once  exhibited  inde- 
cision, and  it  was  this  quality  that  gave  him  his  crown- 
ing characteristic  as  a  military  leader.  He  inspired 
his  men  with  a  sense  of  their  invincibility  and  they  were 
thenceforth  invincible." 

These  glowing  tributes  to  Grant's  genius  and  success 
as  a  military  leader  are  fully  supported  by  the  record 
of  his  career  all  through  the  Civil  War,  particularly 
when  he  was  present  with  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 
It  has  been  said  in  a  preceding  chapter  that  previous 
to  his  promotion  to  supreme  command  of  the  National 
forces,  the  army  in  the  East  had  been  under  the  leader- 
ship of  five  different  generals  between  1861  and  the 
spring  of  1864,  and  during  that  period  an  army  of 
159,000  Union  men  had  been  consumed  without  the  at- 
tainment of  any  immediate  or  significant  result.  Antie- 
tam  had  been  fought  in  Maryland  between  87,000 
Union  troops  under  McClellan,  and  Confederate  forces 


336  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

variously  estimated  at  from  45,000  to  70,000 ;  but  Lee 
was  permitted  to  recross  the  Potomac,  and  to  invade 
Pennsylvania  the  following  year  and  bring  on  the  des- 
perate struggle  at  Gettysburg.  There,  between  70,000 
and  80,000  were  engaged  on  each  side,  and  although  it 
was  a  Union  victory,  Meade  gave  Lee  a  week  or  more  in 
which  to  retreat  across  the  Potomac,  and  later,  to  defy 
the  Union  forces  to  meet  him  in  battle  on  Virginia  soil. 

However  favorable  at  the  time  may  have  been  the 
moral  effect  of  Lee's  retreat  from  Antietam  and  Gettys- 
burg, it  seems  that  it  was  only  temporary,  for  in  the 
winter  of  1864  there  was  widespread  unrest  in  the 
North,  and  much  anxiety  in  Administration  circles  in 
Washington  regarding  the  condition  of  affairs  on  the 
Potomac.  At  the  time  Grant  was  called  to  the  East, 
the  Union  cause  in  that  department  was  not  more  hope- 
ful than  when  General  McDowell  marched  to  Bull  Run 
to  meet  inglorious  defeat  at  the  hands  of  General  Beau- 
regard,  July  21st,  1861,  in  the  first  hard  fought  battle 
of  the  war. 

Some  writers  have  charged  Grant  with  "dogged 
pertinacity"  in  rushing  his  men  into  battle  regardless 
of  conditions;  but  they  seem  to  forget  that  before  he 
could  cause  the  downfall  of  Richmond  or  compass  the 
final  overthrow  of  Lee's  army,  he  had  as  sanguinary 
battles  to  fight  as  had  ever  been  fought  in  any  part  of 
the  great  field  of  the  Civil  War;  and  that  he  lost  15,000 
fewer  men  in  bringing  the  war  to  an  end  than  were  sac- 


GRANT  AS  A  COMMANDER  337 

rificed  during  the  previous  three  years  in  the  fruitless 
attempts  to  crush  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia. 

When  Grant  .went  to  the  East  at  the  urgent  request 
of  Lincoln  and  Stanton,  it  was  to  whip  Lee  and  make 
him  stay  whipped.  On  this  point  the  Comte  de  Paris 
says  Grant  had  to  be  invested  with  the  supreme  com- 
mand before  the  ideas  of  the  President  and  the  Secre- 
tary of  War  yielded  to  the  principles  of  sound  strategy. 
The  Army  of  the  Potomac  had  never  before  seen  such  a 
hard  and  determined  fighter  as  Grant.  In  this  connec- 
tion it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  whether  great  losses 
in  battle  are  justified  depends  upon  the  results  obtained. 
Grant  lost  124,000  men  from  the  time  he  entered  the 
Wilderness  to  the  capture  of  Lee's  army  at  Appomattox. 
But  not  in  a  single  battle  during  those  eleven  months 
did  he  take  one  step  backward.  Every  movement  he 
made  took  him  nearer  the  accomplishment  of  his  su- 
preme purpose — the  saving  of  the  Union. 

It  has  been  said  by  an  unnamed  writer  on  the  cam- 
paign in  Virginia,  that  Grant  did  not  fight  battles 
merely  to  win  victories  or  to  kill  the  enemy's  soldiers, 
but  to  capture  the  opposing  army  and  remove  it  from 
the  field  of  hostile  action;  "and  in  this  object  he  was 
conspicuously  successful,  even  as  compared  with  Na- 
poleon. When  Grant  fought  a  battle  he  intended  it 
should  be  a  Waterloo,  and  that  the  army  which  opposed 
him  should  never  fight  him  again.  In  this  respect  he 
was  a  Csesar." 


338  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

Lee's  opinion  of  Grant  as  a  commander  is  related 
by  General  James  Grant  Wilson.  Shortly  after  the 
war,  when  an  unfriendly  critic  referred  to  Grant  as  a 
military  accident  whose  success  had  been  won  through 
a  combination  of  fortunate  circumstances,  Lee  an- 
swered: "Your  opinion  is  a  poor  compliment  to  me. 
We  all  thought  Richmond,  protected  as  it  was  by  our 
splendid  fortifications  and  defended  by  our  army  of 
veterans,  could  not  be  taken.  Yet  Grant  turned  his 
face  to  our  capital,  and  he  never  turned  it  away  until  we 
had  surrendered.  Now  I  have  carefully  searched  the 
military  records  of  both  ancient  and  modern  history 
and  have  never  found  Grant's  superior  as  a  general. 
I  doubt  if  his  superior  can  be  found  in  all  history." 

Apply  to  Grant  what  test  you  may ;  measure  him  by 
the  magnitude  of  the  obstacles  he  overcame,  by  his  in- 
domitable will  and  ceaseless  energy,  by  the  peculiar 
methods  he  adopted  in  fighting  his  battles,  by  the 
achievements  of  his  illustrious  co-workers,  by  the  sure- 
ness  with  which  he  directed  his  marvellous  force  to  the 
vital  point  which  was  the  key  to  the  vast  field  of  opera- 
tion, by  the  fame  of  the  antagonist  over  whom  he  tri- 
umphed, and  is  it  any  wonder  that  such  a  military 
genius  and  brilliant  and  daring  strategist  made  the 
Vicksburg  siege  the  greatest  in  history,  that  the  most 
dramatic  battle  of  the  Civil  War,  or  of  any  war,  he 
won  at  Chattanooga,  that  he  finished  the  war  at  Appo- 
mattox,  and  the  last  great  scene  in  the  tragedy  of  the 
Rebellion  filled  the  world  with  his  fame  ? 


GRANT  AS  A  COMMANDER  339 

John  Fiske,  the  distinguished  philosopher  and  his- 
torian, says  Grant  ''possessed  very  high  qualities;  the 
combination  of  self-reliant,  fertile  resources  and  vigor 
in  action  was  perhaps  never  more  perfectly  realized 
than  in  his  wonderful  campaign  in  the  rear  of  Vicks- 
burg.  He  was  invariably  patient  and  equable  in  tem- 
per in  the  most  trying  circumstances,  neither  elevated 
by  success  nor  cast  down  by  ill-fortune.  For  dogged 
persistency  he  has  never  been  surpassed ;  .  .  .  and 
if  there  were  anything  especially  difficult  for  him  to  en- 
dure it  was  the  sight  of  human  suffering,  as  was  shown 
on  the  night  at  Shiloh,  where  he  lay  out  doors  in  the  icy 
rain  rather  than  stay  in  a  comfortable  room  where  the 
surgeons  were  at  work.  Although  in  spite  of  some 
shortcomings,  Grant  was  a  massive,  noble,  and  lovable 
personality,  well  fit  to  be  numbered  as  one  of  the  heroes 
of  a  great  nation." 

Thus  is  characterized  a  commander  who  was  never 
allured  by  military  glory,  and  who  never  manifested  a 
military  spirit.  It  has  been  truly  written  of  him, 
notwithstanding  he  was  the  greatest  warrior  of  his 
time,  that  he  was  above  all  things  else  a  lover  of  peace. 

Finally,  with  the  same  genius  and  high  purpose 
with  which  Lincoln  administered  the  office  of  Presi- 
dent, Grant,  as  commander-in-chief  of  the  army,  con- 
ducted all  his  campaigns  to  subdue  rebellion.  Lincoln 
was  the  guiding  force  in  the  darkest  days  in  American 
history,  and  Grant  was  the  hope  and  inspiration  of  that 
army  which  had  volunteered  to  risk  their  lives  for  a 


340  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

righteous  cause.  Grant  never  took  a  step  backward. 
From  first  to  last  he  was  conqueror.  Under  the  most 
desperate  conditions  he  held  himself  together  as  with 
a  chain  of  steel.  He  had  "the  most  extraordinary 
military  temperament  the  world  has  ever  seen." 

In  all  the  centuries  from  Caesar  to  Napoleon  there 
has  not  lived  a  warrior  who  so  beautifully  and  com- 
pletely manifested  the  God-given  spirit  of  tenderness 
and  magnanimity  toward  a  fallen  foe  as  Grant.  As 
commander  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  he  not 
only  displayed  the  characteristics  of  genius,  but  the 
most  modest  and  lovable  traits  of  character;  and  thus 
measuring  him  by  what  he  accomplished  in  four  years 
of  war  and  what  he  was  in  purity  of  purpose  and 
charity  for  those  over  whom  he  was  victor,  he  will  ever 
remain"singular  and  solitary"  the  Man  of  Mystery, 
one  of  the  grandest  characters  in  all  history. 


XXXVII. 
A  REMARKABLE  HOME-COMING. 

the  summer  of  1865  Grant  was  the  one 
man  upon  whom  the  eye  of  the  nation  was 
focused.  The  kindness  shown  him  by  in- 
dividuals, associations,  corporations,  and 
Congress,  was  heart-warming.  An  incident  which 
pleased  Grant  greatly  was  his  visit  to  West  Point  in 
June,  1865,  where  he  met  General  Winfield  Scott, 
under  whom  he  had  served  as  a  lieutenant  in  the  Mexi- 
can War.  As  I  have  stated  in  a  previous  chapter,  the 
veteran  general  said  of  Grant  during  the  Civil  War: 
"I  remember  him  as  a  young  lieutenant  of  undaunted 
courage,  but  giving  no  promise  of  anything  beyond 
ordinary  ability."  But  at  the  meeting  at  the  Academy 
in  1865,  Scott,  being  then  seventy-nine,  presented  to 
Grant  a  copy  of  his  Memoirs  which  bore  the  inscrip- 
tion :  "From  the  oldest  to  the  greatest  general." 

The  gifts  bestowed  upon  Grant  were  numerous,  and 
included  a  gold  medal  by  Congress,  swords,  honorary 


342  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

titles,  horses  and  carriages,  money,  and  houses.  The 
citizens  of  Galena  gave  him  a  beautiful  house,  ready 
for  occupancy,  which  occupied  one  of  the  most  pic- 
turesque and  charming  situations  in  the  city.  The 
Union  League  of  Philadelphia  presented  him  with  a 
furnished  house  which  cost  $30,000.  And  his  friends 
in  New  York  gave  him  one  hundred  thousand  dollars 
as  a  token  of  their  appreciation  of  his  great  services  to 
his  country. 

But  the  gratitude  of  the  people  was  not  limited  to 
the  bestowment  of  gifts.  Receptions  were  tendered 
him  by  many  cities  in  the  East,  South,  West,  and  in 
Canada.  In  Montreal,  New  York,  and  Chicago  he  was 
greeted  with  unbounded  enthusiasm.  But  in  his  jour- 
neyings  he  did  not  forget  the  little  village  of  George- 
town, Ohio,  where  he  spent  nearly  sixteen  years  of  his 
boyhood.  Here  he  made  an  address  composed  of 
eighty-two  words,  a  longer  speech  than  he  made  in  any 
of  the  large  cities  he  visited. 

But  the  most  significant  of  all  the  General's  recep- 
tions during  that  summer  was  at  Galena,  which  he  had 
not  visited  since  he  was  commissioned  colonel  of  the 
Twenty-first  Illinois  in  June,  1861.  It  is  doubtful  if 
there  can  be  found  in  the  history  of  man  a  more  ex- 
pressive or  important  home-coming  than  his  visit  to  the 
little  lead-mining  city  on  the  18th  of  August,  1865. 
The  metropolis  of  the  lead  district  of  the  West  had  had 
many  golden  days  in  its  history,  but  it  had  never  had 
an  event  compared  with  that  of  August  18th. 


A  REMARKABLE  HOME-COMINQ  343 

The  contrast  between  the  darkest  and  coldest  night 
of  winter  and  the  warm  and  delightful  sunshine  of  a 
summer's  day  is  not  greater  than  that  between  the  de- 
parture of  Captain  Grant  from  Galena  for  Springfield 
on  April  26th,  1861,  with  a  company  of  volunteers  in 
which  he  held  no  position  of  rank,  and  the  return  home 
of  Lieutenant-General  Grant  after  the  war.  What 
mighty  things  he  had  accomplished  in  the  brief  period 
between  his  departure  in  1861  and  his  return  in  1865 ! 
In  forty-eight  months  he  had  made  more  history  that 
will  be  read  with  thrilling  interest,  than  was  ever  made 
by  man  in  so  few  years. 

This  once  humble  townsman,  to  all  appearances 
without  a  definite  or  high  purpose  in  life,  had  leaped 
into  fame  more  rapidly  than  any  military  leader  in  the 
annals  of  war.  In  less  than  three  years  he  had  risen 
from  a  copying  clerk  in  the  Adjutant  General's  office  in 
Springfield,  to  the  supreme  command  of  a  million  of 
men,  divided  into  many  great  armies  and  operating 
over  an  area  as  large  as  the  empire  of  Germany  and 
Austria  combined.  It  was  this  remarkable  fact  that 
gave  to  the  home-coming  of  Grant  extraordinary  interest 
and  enthusiasm. 

With  exultant  pride,  Grant's  fellow-townsmen  left 
nothing  undone  to  give  him  a  fitting  welcome.  It  was 
only  yesterday — so  short  did  the  time  seem — that  he 
departed  from  the  city,  with  a  small  carpetbag  in  hand, 
an  unknown  man,  to  seek  a  position  in  which  he  might 
be  of  service  to  his  country.  To-day  he  returns  by 


344  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

special  train,  luxuriously  equipped,  and  is  greeted  with 
the  cheers  and  plaudits  of  a  vast  throng  of  his  fellow- 
citizens.  Yesterday  he  left  for  Springfield,  so  lacking 
in  personal  influence  that  he  was  in  a  wilderness  of 
doubt  as  to  how  Fortune  would  behave  toward  him. 
To-day  he  brings  home  a  record  of  service  written  high- 
est on  America's  roll  of  military  fame. 

People  came  by  the  thousands  from  all  parts  of 
northern  Illinois  and  southern  Wisconsin — and  even 
from  other  states — to  join  in  the  great  demonstration. 
Business  was  largely  suspended  in  the  city.  Flags  were 
flying  everywhere.  Banners  bearing  appropriate  de- 
vices were  displayed  in  many  places.  A  triumphal  arch 
spanned  Main  Street,  which  bore  the  inspiring  motto, 
"Hail  to  the  Chief  who  in  Triumph  Advances."  On 
the  platform  were  thirty-six  beautiful  young  women 
dressed  in  white,  each  waving  an  American  flag,  and 
each  having  a  bouquet  to  fling  at  the  General  as  he 
passed  under  the  arch. 

It  would  be  futile  to  attempt  to  describe  adequately 
the  stirring  scene  when  the  unobtrusive  little  man 
ascended  the  platform  in  company  with  many  distin- 
guished friends.  The  moment  was  a  severe  trial  to  one 
so  retiring  and  bashful  as  Grant.  The  facing  of  such 
a  multitude  in  his  home-town,  and  the  thunder  of  ap- 
plause, which  was  long-continued,  seemed  to  bewilder 
him,  and  he  blushed  like  a  school-girl.  When  silence 
was  restored,  Mr.  Elihu  B.  Washburne  gave  the  address 
of  welcome ;  but  the  man  who  could  save  a  nation  could 


A  REMARKABLE  HOME-COMING  345 

not  express  his  feelings  to  such  an  outpouring  of  people 
at  such  a  time,  and  it  was  arranged  that  the  General's 
former  pastor,  now  Bishop  Vincent,  should  speak  for 
him  in  response  to  the  address  of  Mr.  Washburne. 

Music  and  addresses  closed  the  exercises  on  the 
platform  in  the  afternoon,  and  in  the  evening  a  recep- 
tion was  given  at  the  custom  house.  Many  thousands 
could  see  the  General  on  the  platform  or  in  the  carriage 
as  he  rode  through  the  streets,  but  it  was  a  physical 
impossibility  for  all  who  wished  to  shake  hands  with 
him  to  have  their  desires  gratified.  Only  those  who 
were  fortunate  enough  to  get  a  position  not  far  from  the 
entrance  of  the  custom  house,  early  in  the  evening,  and 
could  endure  being  jammed  as  tightly  as  if  squeezed 
in  a  vise,  had  the  pleasure  of  personally  greeting  the 
conquering  hero.  I  had  the  privilege  of  attending  four 
receptions  given  to  Grant — the  one  at  Galena,  and  three 
others  after  his  journey  around  the  world,  but  his  home- 
coming seemed  to  touch  him  most  deeply.  This  should 
cause  no  wonder.  He  was  then  on  the  scene  of  his  hard 
and  last  struggle  with  misfortune  and  failure  before  the 
Civil  War.  He  was  fresh  from  the  field  of  the  great 
American  conflict,  in  which  he  had  risen  with  amazing 
rapidity  from  what  seemed  hopeless  obscurity  to  world- 
wide fame.  And  on  this  occasion  he  was  subjected  to 
the  constant  gaze  of  his  proud  and  admiring  neighbors 
as  well  as  of  thousands  of  the  curious  from  far  and 
near.  The  circumstances  and  surroundings  in  this  case 
appeared  to  impress  him  more  peculiarly  and  pro- 


346  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

foundly  than  any  other  reception  at  which  I  had  met 
him. 

In  the  evening  it  was  announced  by  someone  in  the 
receiving  circle  that  the  ex-soldiers  and  officers  to  be 
presented  to  the  General  should  give  their  names  and 
commands.  Early  in  the  reception,  an  officer  who  had 
met  him  in  the  war,  and  who  immediately  preceded 
me  in  the  line,  gave  his  name  and  regiment,  and  on  be- 
ing presented,  was  at  once  recognized  by  the  General. 
A  beam  of  pleasure  seemed  to  possess  his  face,  but  this 
was  only  momentary ;  for  when  the  officer  blurted  out, 
"General,  this  is  a  proud  day  for  you ;  you  are  having  a 
grand  ovation,"  Grant's  countenance  suddenly  became 
serious  and  bore  the  aspect  of  weariness;  and  in  a 
modest  tone,  mixed  with  embarrassment,  he  responded : 
"The  people  are  very  kind  to — ,"  but  the  sentence  was 
not  finished,  the  line  was  pressing  hard  upon  him,  and 
thus  it  continued  until  his  weariness  made  it  necessary 
to  end  the  reception  at  an  early  hour. 

Grant  could  never  be  made  joyful  by  the  blandish- 
ments of  sycophants,  or  by  those  who  sought  to  shower 
him  with  praise  for  his  service  to  his  country.  He  was 
a  lover  of  simplicity  and  hard  sense,  and  had  never 
manifested  elation  over  any  victory.  It  is  doubtful  if 
Horace  Porter,  John  Russell  Young,  Bishop  Vincent, 
or  anyone  else  who  saw  much  of  him,  either  in  a  great 
campaign  or  at  any  notable  function  given  in  his  honor, 
in  time  of  peace,  ever  knew  him  to  exhibit  a  spirit  of 
self-gratulation.  Even  at  the  magnificent  review  in 


A  REMARKABLE  HOME-COMING  347 

Washington,  at  which,  by  virtue  of  his  high  rank  and 
many  victories,  he  should  have  been  the  central  figure, 
he  walked  with  some  members  of  his  staff  from  the  head- 
quarters of  the  army  to  the  reviewing  stand  in  front  of 
the  White  House,  and  to  all  appearances  was  not  more 
than  a  spectator  at  the  brilliant  military  pageant — an 
event  made  possible  by  his  successful  generalship. 

Grant  was  now  the  most  popular  man  in  America, 
and  invitations  to  accept  the  hospitality  of  municipali- 
ties came  from  many  parts  of  the  land.  It  was  his  wish 
to  visit  certain  parts  of  the  Northwest,  and  a  railway 
company  generously  tendered  him  a  special  train  with 
which  he  was  privileged  to  make  any  excursion  he  de- 
sired ;  and  in  this  tender  there  was  no  restriction  placed 
upon  the  number  or  character  of  his  guests. 

The  real  Grant  was  manifest  in  the  choice  of  his 
company  on  this  excursion.  Bishop  Vincent  says  the 
General  did  not  take  into  account  wealth  or  social  po- 
sition. He  chose  as  his  guests  old  friends  and  com- 
rades who  had  been  kind  and  faithful  to  him  in  the  days 
when  he  was  obscure  and  poor.  Of  such  men  and 
women  was  the  company  composed  which  joined  him 
on  the  excursion;  but  among  all  the  guests  there  was 
none  so  unassuming,  or  who  gave  so  little  evidence  of 
personal  pride,  as  Grant  himself.  Wherever  the  ex- 
cursion went  he  was  received  by  an  enthusiastic  multi- 
tude. From  beginning  to  end  it  was  a  triumphal 
march.  He  could  not  say  much  when  called  on  for  a 
speech,  but  another  spoke  for  him.  He  was  to  be  seen 


348  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

and  not  heard;  and  seeing  him  was  to  see  the  greatest 
one-man  power  in  the  realm  of  arms  the  nineteenth 
century  had  produced. 

Grant's  control  of  his  emotions,  his  never-failing 
modesty,  his  trustful  simplicity,  and  the  constancy  with 
which  he  pursued  the  noiseless  tenor  of  his  way  will 
always  be  a  mystery.  It  was  always  his  wish — so  far 
as  he  was  personally  concerned — to  travel  in  a  manner 
free  from  any  appearance  of  ostentation.  A  story  is 
told  that  when  he  was  going  northward  in  the  autumn 
of  1864  (presumably  in  the  latter  part  of  September,  to 
make  a  brief  visit  to  his  family  at  Burlington,  N.  J.), 
he  wore  clothes  of  the  common  sort ;  and  when  a  news- 
boy entered  the  train  and  called  out,  "Life  of  General 
Grant,"  an  aide  suggested  to  the  boy  that  he  might  "sell 
one  to  the  gentleman  over  there" — pointing  to  the  Gen- 
eral. Going  to  the  man,  who  wore  no  insignia  of  rank, 
the  young  vendor  of  papers  and  books  said:  "Life  of 
General  Grant,  mister?  New  Life  of  Grant?"  The 
General,  in  an  indifferent  tone,  wanted  to  know  "who 
is  this  all  about?"  With  much  indignation  the  boy 
replied:  "You  must  be  a  darned  greeny  not  to  know 
who  General  Grant  is."  The  General  surrendered,  and 
bought  the  book. 

Grant  had  no  desire  for  brilliant  functions  or  noisy 
demonstrations;  and  it  was  observed  frequently  when 
he  was  travelling  in  a  finely-equipped  coach  that  he 
would  generally  leave  his  private  car  to  go  to  one  for- 
ward and  smoke  and  talk  with  strangers. 


A  REMARKABLE  HOME-COMING  349 

Reviewing  Grant's  life  from  the  time  he  became 
famous  as  a  commander  to  the  close  of  his  remarkable 
career,  it  is  not  inappropriate  to  apply  to  him  what 
Emilio  Castelar  said  of  Lincoln,  in  the  Spanish  Cortes : 
"He  was  the  humblest  of  the  humble  before  his  own 
conscience,  the  greatest  of  the  great  before  history." 


XXXVIII. 

GRANT  AND  THE  PRESIDENCY. 

T  the  close  of  the  war,  and  after  the  death 
of  Lincoln,  Grant  was  the  first  citizen  of 
the  Republic.  Lincoln's  successor,  Andrew 
Johnson,  became  involved  in  a  bitter  quar- 
rel with  Congress  over  his  reconstruction  policy,  and 
sought  to  use  Grant's  unbounded  popularity  as  a  make- 
weight in  promoting  his  plans.  The  General  refused 
to  become  involved  in  political  dissensions,  and  gave  his 
whole  strength  to  the  work  of  disbanding  the  army,  re- 
pressing disorder  in  the  South,  and  restoring  normal 
conditions  throughout  the  region  desolated  by  the  war. 
In  August,  1867,  President  Johnson  suspended  the 
Secretary  of  War,  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  the  only  member 
of  Lincoln's  Cabinet  remaining  in  office,  and  appointed 
Grant  secretary  ad  interim.  It  was  a  most  delicate 
and  trying  position,  and  could  not  but  bring  about  dis- 
agreeable complications.  Grant  made  sincere  and 
earnest  efforts  to  discharge  his  duties  in  a  fair  and 


GRANT  AND   THE  FtiEtilDENCY  351 

unpartisan  manner,  and  when  ordered  to  remove  Gen- 
eral Sheridan,  he  made  a  definite  attempt  to  check  the 
President  in  his  insane  and  disastrous  policy,  which 
was  rapidly  alienating  the  loyal  people  of  the  North; 
but  finding  himself  misunderstood  on  all  sides,  he  re- 
lapsed into  his  usual  silence.  The  following  January 
the  Senate  refused  to  sanction  the  suspension  of  Stan- 
ton,  and  Grant  at  once  surrendered  the  office. 

When  the  convention  called  to  nominate  a  Republi- 
can candidate  for  the  Presidency  met  in  Chicago,  May 
20th,  1868,  only  one  name  was  presented.  After  the 
roll-call,  amid  boundless  enthusiasm,  the  chairman  an- 
nounced :  "Gentlemen  of  the  convention,  the  roll  is  com- 
pleted. You  have  650  votes  and  you  have  given  650 
votes  for  Ulysses  S.  Grant."  In  accepting  the  nomina- 
tion Grant  declared  his  purpose  to  execute  the  will  of 
the  people  without  laying  down  any  policy  that  he 
would  invariably  follow,  and  closed  with  the  famous 
words,  "Let  us  have  peace." 

During  a  strenuous  campaign,  the  opposition  resorted 
to  every  means  to  discredit  him  and  made  the  most 
virulent  attacks  upon  his  personal  character.  Grant 
remained  silent  and  took  no  part  in  the  campaign.  He 
Hetired  to  his  little  home  in  Galena,  received  his 
friends,  drove  and  walked  about  the  streets,  took  tea 
and  chatted  in  the  most  familiar  way  with  his  neigh- 
bors, and  seemed  totally  unconscious  of  the  fact  that  he 
was  the  central  figure  in  one  of  the  great  political 
struggles  of  the  century. 


352  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

While  he  had  reason  to  say  some  sharp  things 
against  the  peculiar  policy  of  President  Johnson,  Grant 
confined  his  action  in  this  matter  to  a  few  lines  in  a 
letter  to  Mr.  E.  B.  Washburne,  which  are  as  humorous 
as  they  are  pointed.  Congress  adjourned  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  summer,  and  the  letter  was  written  Sep- 
tember 23rd: 

"I  feared  the  effect  of  legislation  at  this  time,  and  then,  too, 
if  Congress  had  remained  in  session  it  would  prevent  A.  J.  from 
taking  his  proposed  trip  to  East  Tennessee.  I  have  as  much 
affection  for  him  as  Frank  Blair  had  for  the  'Finnigans,'  and 
would  go  just  as  far  as  Frank  was  willing  to  go  to  see  him  off, 
and  would  hold  out  every  inducement  to  have  him  remain." 

Grant  was  elected  by  an  overwhelming  majority,  and 
he  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  high  office  on  March 
4th,  1869.  The  best  evidence  of  his  fitness  for  the  place 
and  the  success  of  his  administration,  was  that  at  the 
end  of  his  term  it  was  felt  to  be  absolutely  necessary 
for  the  continued  stability  of  the  government  and  the 
prosperity  of  the  country  that  he  should  be  continued 
in  the  executive  office. 

It  is  difficult  in  a  few  pages  to  review  the  eight 
years  of  his  administration.  Questions  of  the  greatest 
importance,  upon  which  the  wisest  and  most  patriotic 
men  differed,  were  up  for  discussion  and  settlement,  and 
in  many  cases  he  was  compelled  to  make  the  final  de- 
cision. All  untrained  in  matters  of  civil  administra- 
tion, he  came  to  the  head  of  a  government  whose  very 
existence  had  been  threatened  throughout  four  years  of 
civil  war,  and  which  had  been  torn  by  dissensions  dur- 


GRANT  AND  THE  PRESIDENCY  353 

ing  the  stormy  administration  of  his  predecessor.  That 
he  should  make  mistakes  was  inevitable.  Trained  in 
military  affairs,  it  was  natural  that  he  should  think 
of  his  official  advisers  as  members  of  his  staff,  and 
choose  them  for  personal  rather  than  political  reasons. 
If  Lincoln  erred,  it  was  on  the  side  of  mercy ;  and  if 
Grant  fell  into  error  while  President,  it  was  because  of 
his  loyalty  to  his  friends.  It  is  possible  that  at  times 
he  might  have  been  somewhat  blinded  by  his  friend- 
ships. He  could  not  forget  those  who  had  been  kind 
to  him  in  his  days  of  adversity.  His  great  Secretary  of 
State,  Hamilton  Fish,  says  of  him:  "His  knowledge 
of  men  was  generally  accurate ;  but  he  was  apt,  in  this 
respect,  as  in  others,  to  reach  his  conclusions  rapidly, 
and  was  thus  not  infrequently  led  to  give  his  confidence 
where  it  was  not  deserved ;  and  it  was  from  the  abuse  of 
his  confidence,  thus  reposed,  that  arose  most  of  the 
censure  which,  after  the  close  of  the  war,  was  visited 
upon  him."  But  he  was  sincere,  patriotic,  incorrup- 
tible, and  straightforward,  and  the  people  trusted  him. 
Whatever  the  criticisms  in  smaller  matters  and  details 
of  administration,  when  it  came  to  great  questions  upon 
which  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  country  depended, 
he  saw  as  by  an  unerring  instinct  through  all  sophistries 
to  the  heart  of  the  matter,  and  stood  like  a  rock  against 
the  selfish  schemes  of  individuals  or  the  clamor  of  the 
unthinking  crowd. 

Of  all  the  public  men  who  opposed  Grant,  Charles 
Sumner  was  the  most  virulent.     In  a  bitter  speech,  de- 


354  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

livered  in  the  United  States  Senate,  May  20th,  1872, 
he  charged  the  President  with  having  turned  the  White 
House  into  a  military  headquarters.  But  the  fact  is  that 
at  the  time  Sumner  made  the  attack  on  Grant,  there 
were  only  three  officers  in  the  White  House — Colonel 
O.  E.  Babcock,  Colonel  Frederick  T.  Dent,  and  Colonel 
Horace  Porter — who  had  served  on  Grant's  staff  during 
the  war,  and  were  then  on  Sherman's  staff,  and  were 
detailed  at  the  White  House  for  clerical  duty.  They 
loved  Grant  as  did  all  the  officers  who  served  with  him ; 
and  to  assist  the  President  was  a  labor  of  love,  for 
neither  one  of  them  received  one  cent  of  compensation 
beyond  his  pay  as  an  officer  of  the  army. 

A  finer  illustration  of  Grant's  simplicity  in  public 
life  and  his  perfect  freedom  from  a  military  spirit, 
cannot  be  found  than  that  given  by  United  States 
Senator  Matthew  H.  Carpenter  in  a  speech  delivered 
in  the  Senate  on  the  3rd  of  June,  1872.  In  answering 
Sumner's  charge  of  militarism,  Mr.  Carpenter  said : 

"When  Grant  took  possession  of  the  White  House,  it  was 
patrolled  by  sentinels  day  and  night;  so  was  the  War  Depart- 
ment; so  was  the  residence  of  Mr.  Seward.  The  first  night  Grant 
slept  in  the  President's  House,  after  retiring  he  heard  the  tramp 
of  soldiers  in  the  hall  below,  and  presently  the  command,  'Halt! 
Order  arms!'  and  the  crash  of  muskets  on  the  floor.  The  Gen- 
eral, not  knowing  what  it  meant,  ran  down  stairs  to  ascertain 
the  cause.  There  he  found  an  officer  in  command  of  a  squad  of 
soldiers,  and  on  asking  an  explanation,  was  informed  that  it  was 
the  night  guard  of  the  Executive  Mansion,  which  for  a  long  time 
had  been  stationed  there  every  night.  But  General  Grant  in- 
formed the  officer  that  he  could  take  care  of  himself,  and  ordered 
him  to  take  his  soldiers  to  their  quarters.  He  waited  till  his 


GRANT  AND  THE  PRESIDENCY  355 

armed  friends  had  left,  then  locked  the  door  and  went  to  bed. 
The  next  day  the  whole  business  of  sentinel  service  was  discon- 
tinued, and  not  a  soldier  has  been  on  duty  at  the  White  House 
since." 

Speaking  of  Grant  as  President,  that  most  judicial 
observer  of  men  and  things,  Dr.  Andrew  D.  White, 
says  of  him:  "As  to  General  Grant,  I  believe  now,  as 
I  believed  then,  that  his  election  (reelection)  was  a 
great  blessing  and  that  he  was  one  of  the  noblest,  purest, 
and  most  capable  men  who  have  ever  sat  in  the  Presi- 
dency. The  cheap,  clap-trap  antithesis  which  has  at 
times  been  made  between  Grant  the  soldier  and  Grant 
the  statesman  is,  I  am  convinced,  utterly  without  foun- 
dation. The  qualities  which  made  him  a  great  soldier 
made  him  an  effective  statesman.  This  fact  was  clearly 
recognized  by  the  American  people  at  various  times 
during  the  war,  and  especially  when,  at  the  surrender 
at  Appomattox,  he  declined  to  deprive  General  Lee  of 
his  sword,  and  quietly  took  the  responsibility  of  allow- 
ing the  soldiers  of  the  Southern  army  to  return  with 
their  horses  to  their  fields  to  resume  their  peaceful 
industry.  These  statesmanlike  qualities  were  devel- 
oped more  and  more  by  the  great  duties  and  responsi- 
bilities of  the  Presidency.  His  triumph  over  financial 
demagogy  in  his  vetoes  of  the  Inflation  Bill,  and  his  tri- 
umph over  political  demagogy  in  securing  the  Treaty  of 
Washington  and  the  Alabama  indemnity,  prove  him  a 
statesman  worthy  to  rank  with  the  best  of  his  predeces- 
sors. In  view  of  these  evidences  of  complete  integrity 
and  high  capacity,  and  bearing  in  mind  various  conver- 


356  GRA.KT,  TEE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

sations  which  I  had  with  him  during  his  public  life 
down  to  a  period  just  before  his  death,  I  feel  sure  that 
history  will  pronounce  him  not  only  a  great  general  but 
a  statesman  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word." 

When  we  speak  of  the  welfare  of  the  country  we 
are  in  the  habit  of  using  the  two  words,  Peace  and 
Prosperity.  No  act  was  ever  more  fruitful  in  securing 
the  first  than  the  Treaty  of  Washington,  which  averted 
war  with  England  and  secured  the  peaceful  adjustment 
of  the  Alabama  Claims  by  arbitration ;  and  prosperity 
was  never  more  effectively  promoted  than  by  Grant's 
financial  policy,  which  prevented  an  inflation  of  the 
currency  and  secured  the  resumption  of  specie  pay- 
ments. Enormous  public  debt,  and  depreciated  and  ir- 
redeemable currency,  were  among  the  legacies  of  war. 
Demagogues  stood  ready  to  tempt  the  people  with 
schemes  of  inflation  and  repudiation.  Grant  set  his 
face  determinedly  against  them.  His  veto  of  the  In- 
flation Bill  proposing  to  reissue  fifty  millions  of  green- 
backs which  had  been  retired,  came  at  a  critical  moment 
and  turned  the  scales  against  depreciated  money.  In 
that  one  act  he  did  more  than  all  the  other  public  men 
of  his  time  to  defend  the  Nation's  faith,  maintain  the 
national  credit,  and  prepare  the  way  for  resumption. 
With  all  his  alleged  incapacity  for  business  he  had 
broad  ideas  of  financial  and  political  economy  and  a 
rugged  sense  of  business  integrity,  which  were  of  in- 
estimable service  to  his  country  in  days  of  storm  and 
stress.  John  Fiske  thought  that  for  the  vetoing  of  the 


GRANT  AND  THE  PRESIDENCY  357 

Inflation  Bill  in  1874,  and  his  consistent  advocacy  of 
the  Resumption  Act  which  passed  in  1875,  Grant  should 
be  given  as  high  credit  as  for  any  of  his  great  victories 
in  the  field. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  methods  of  President 
Grant  and  the  working  of  his  mind  when  great  questions 
were  up  for  consideration,  we  have  this  testimony  of 
Hamilton  Fish,  who  was  so  closely  connected  with  his 
administration : 

"In  his  cabinet  meetings  he  was  free  to  accept  the  opinions 
and  views  of  the  members,  often  antagonistic  to  his  own  precon- 
ceived notions.  As  an  instance  of  this,  when  the  inflation  bill 
had  passed  Congress,  and  was  strenuously  urged  upon  him  for 
approval  by  many  of  his  most  influential  friends  in  each  house 
of  Congress,  and  by  a  majority  of  his  Cabinet,  he  at  first  re- 
luctantly yielded  to  a  determination  to  approve  the  bill,  and  pre- 
pared a  paper  to  be  submitted  to  Congress,  explaining  his  reasons 
for  approval  of  the  bill.  ...  I  had  most  strenuously  advo- 
cated his  vetoing  the  bill,  and  an  evening  or  two  previous  to  this 
Cabinet  meeting,  he  sent  for  me  and  read  me  the  paper.  Having 
done  it,  he  remarked:  'The  more  I  have  written  upon  this,  the 
more  I  don't  like  it;  and  I  have  determined  to  veto  the  bill,  and 
am  preparing  a  message  accordingly.'  " 

It  is  interesting  to  turn  from  his  acts  as  President 
to  his  sympathy  and  regard  for  men  against  whom  he 
fought  in  the  war.  Ex-Confederate  General  Longstreet 
had  been  one  of  the  guests  at  Grant's  wedding  in  1849. 
Not  forgetting  their  warm  friendship  in  those  days, 
and  knowing  that  the  ravages  of  war  had  made  him  a 
poor  man,  Grant  offered  him  the  position  of  Surveyor 
of  the  Port  of  New  Orleans.  There  was  trouble  in  the 
Senate  as  to  the  confirmation  of  the  appointment,  and 


358  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

Longstreet,  not  wishing  to  embarrass  the  President, 
wanted  him  to  withdraw  his  name;  but  Grant  said: 
"Give  yourself  no  uneasiness  about  that.  The  Sen- 
ators have  as  many  favors  to  ask  of  me  as  I  have  of 
them,  and  I  will  see  that  you  are  confirmed." 

Mrs.  George  E.  Pickett,  wife  of  General  Pickett, 
who  led  the  fatal  charge  the  last  day  at  Gettysburg 
against  the  Union  forces,  writes  of  the  tender  memories 
she  had  of  Grant.  She  called  upon  him  with  her  hus- 
band while  he  was  President.  Grant  knew  that  his 
old  comrade  of  West  Point  had  been  made  a  poor  man 
by  the  war  and  he  offered  him  the  marshalship  of 
Virginia.  While  sorely  needing  help,  he  appreciated 
the  heavy  draft  made  upon  the  President  by  office- 
seekers,  and  said:  "You  can't  afford  to  do  this  for  me 
now,  and  I  can't  afford  to  take  it" ;  but  Grant  instantly 
replied  with  firmness,  "I  can  afford  to  do  anything  I 
please  that  is  right." 

Grant  is  often  called  "The  Silent  Man."  While  he 
wrote  with  fluency  and  with  great  rapidity,  it  was 
difficult  for  him  to  express  himself  extemporaneously 
until  after  his  Presidental  career,  and  many  interesting 
stories  are  told  of  his  attempts  to  talk.  A  large  body 
of  ministers  once  called  upon  him  and  made  a  long  ad- 
dress, to  which  he  was  compelled  to  reply.  After  a 
sentence  or  two,  Mr.  Fish  noticed  that  his  voice  faltered, 
and  fearing  that  he  might  be  at  a  loss  what  to  say,  the 
Secretary,  standing  next  to  him,  caused  a  diversion  by 
beginning  to  cough  violently.  The  President  after- 


URANT  AND   THE  PRESIDENCY  359 

wards  said  to  Mr.  Fish,  "How  fortunate  it  was  for  me 
that  you  had  that  cough,  as  I  had  felt  my  knees  begin 
to  shake.  I  do  not  think  that  I  could  have  spoken  an- 
other word." 

The  following  anecdote  is  told  by  General  Jacob  B. 
Cox  in  his  military  Reminiscences: 

"He  (Grant)  sometimes  enjoyed  with  a  spice  of 
real  humor  the  mistaken  assumption  of  fluent  men  that 
reticent  ones  lack  brains.  One  day  during  his  Presi- 
dency he  came  into  the  room  where  the  Cabinet  was 
assembling,  laughing  to  himself.  'I  have  just  read,' 
said  he,  'one  of  the  best  anecdotes  I  have  ever  met.  It 
was  that  John  Adams,  after  he  had  been  President, 
was  one  day  taking  a  party  out  to  dinner  at  his  home  in 
Quincy,  when  one  of  his  guests  noticed  a  portrait  over 
his  door,  and  said,  "You  have  a  fine  portrait  of 
Washington,  Mr.  Adams !"  "Yes,"  was  the  reply,  "and 
the  old  wooden-head  made  his  fortune  by  keeping  his 
mouth  shut"  ' ;  and  Grant  laughed  again  with  uncom- 
mon enjoyment.  The  apocryphal  story  gained  a  perma- 
nent interest  in  Grant's  mouth,  for,  although  he  showed 
no  consciousness  that  it  could  have  any  application  to 
himself,  he  evidently  thought  that  keeping  the  mouth 
shut  was  not  enough  in  itself  to  ensure  fortune,  and 
at  any  rate  was  not  displeased  at  finding  such  ground  of 
sympathy  with  the  Father  of  his  country.  Grant's 
telling  the  story  seemed  to  me  under  the  circumstances 
infinitely  more  amusing  than  the  original." 


360  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

It  is  not  necessary  to  multiply  words  in  further 
commenting  on  Grant's  statesmanship.  In  the  period 
of  his  public  life  he  is  best  judged  by  what  he  accom- 
plished, and  by  estimating  the  difficulties  which  beset 
his  presidential  career.  In  considering  great  national 
questions,  he  was  a  great  President.  Some  people  were 
hot  headed  for  war  with  England  on  account  of  her 
delay  in  settling  the  Alabama  claims;  but  Grant  pro- 
moted arbitration  to  the  utmost  of  his  power,  which 
resulted  in  peace  and  goodwill  between  the  two  nations 
and  placed  in  our  national  treasury  $15,500,000  in 
gold,  in  full  settlement  of  the  claims.  He  was  first  to 
give  political  impetus  to  the  movement  for  civil  service 
reform.  During  his  administration  the  public  debt  was 
reduced  $450,500,000.  The  internal  revenue  taxes 
were  lowered  $300,000,000;  and  the  balance  of  trade 
was  changed  from  $130,000,000  against  this  country 
to  $130,000,000  in  our  favor.  The  Special  Payment 
Act  showed  the  wonderful  strength  of  our  public  credit ; 
and  when  it  went  into  effect  on  the  first  of  January, 
1876,  it  made  no  more  disturbance  in  financial  circles 
than  would  the  falling  of  the  dew  in  the  physical  world. 

What  the  country  needed  at  the  beginning  of  Grant's 
administration  was  a  President  who  would  acquire  the 
regard  of  a  large  portion  of  the  Southern  people  without 
forfeiting  the  confidence  of  the  Northern  people;  a 
statesman  of  nerve,  of  wholesome  temperament,  of  rare 
judgment,  and  of  endurance,  to  stand  at  the  helm  of 
the  Ship  of  State.  Grant  was  that  man. 


XXXIX. 

THE  TRIP  AROUND  THE  WORLD. 

T  now  became  possible  for  Grant  to  carry  out 
a  long  cherished  plan  of  a  trip  around  the 
world.  By  disposing  of  some  of  his  prop- 
erty he  would  be  able  to  travel  as  might  the 
ordinary  citizen  of  moderate  means,  and  the  trip  was  be- 
gun in  May,  1877,  with  Mrs.  Grant,  two  sons,  Frederick 
D.  and  Jesse  R.,  Mr.  Borie,  and  John  Russell  Young,  as 
companions.  As  the  Vandalia  sailed  from  Phila- 
delphia, the  party  was  saluted  by  a  vast  crowd  of  people 
and  accompanied  down  the  harbor  by  a  small  fleet. 

One  of  the  greatest  surprises  of  Grant's  life  was  the 
enthusiastic  welcome  given  him  on  his  arrival  in  Liver- 
pool. He  was  greeted  at  the  custom  house  by  a  great 
throng  of  English  citizens  eager  to  grasp  his  hand,  and 
he  was  still  further  amazed  to  be  presented  by  the 
Mayor  with  the  freedom  of  the  city. 

The  journey  to  London  was  a  constant  ovation,  the 
people  crowding  to  meet  him,  delighting  to  do  him 


362  GRANT,  TSE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

honor.  Especially  was  this  so  in  Manchester,  where  he 
was  lodged  in  the  town  hall  and  made  the  guest  of 
honor  at  several  large  gatherings.  On  the  morning  after 
Grant's  arrival  in  London,  he  was  introduced  to  the 
Prince  of  Wales;  but  his  formal  presentation  to  Lon- 
don society  was  at  a  reception  given  by  Minister 
Pierrepont,  June  5th. 

The  late  Mr.  Jesse  Seligman  of  New  York,  the  well 
known  banker,  was  a  warm  personal  friend  of  Grant, 
and  he  says  that  when  the  General  arrived  in  London, 
Mr.  Pierrepont  handed  him  a  copy  of  the  speech  the 
Lord  Mayor  intended  to  deliver  at  the  welcome  cere- 
mony, so  that  the  General  could  prepare  a  proper  reply. 

But  Grant  said:  "Keep  it  away  from  me,  for  I 
won't  be  able  to  say  a  word  unless  I  do  it  spontan- 
eously." He  spoke  spontaneously,  and  it  is  said  to 
have  been  the  best  speech  he  ever  made. 

The  exact  social  status  of  Grant  in  English  society 
had  been  difficult  to  determine.  After  much  discussion 
it  was  agreed  that  he  should  be  received  as  an  ex- 
sovereign,  he  to  make  first  visits  on  members  of  the 
Royal  family,  and  all  other  Englishmen  were  to  yield 
him  precedence.  This  was  practically  the  view  taken 
by  the  other  countries  and  carried  into  effect  more 
punctiliously  in  them  than  in  England,  where  a  more 
impulsive  man  might  have  made  serious  trouble  at  the 
disregard  of  the  agreement  shown  by  the  Royal  family. 

On  June  15th,  the  freedom  of  London,  the  highest 
honor  that  could  be  given  him  by  the  corporation  of 


THE  TRIP  AROUND  THE  WORLD  363 

that  city,  was  conferred  upon  him.  This  was  but  the 
beginning  of  attentions  paid  him  in  all  parts  of  the 
kingdom  and  by .  all  classes  of  people.  Honored  as  a 
guest  by  the  Queen  and  the  Prince  of  Wales,  compli- 
mented by  people  of  high  rank,  constantly  feted  and 
flattered  by  society,  he  was  also  claimed  as  a  friend  by 
workingmen,  who  greeted  him  by  thousands  as  he  went 
his  way  up  and  down  the  country.  To  these  he  was  the 
supreme  revelation  of  democracy,  where  a  man  humbly 
born,  without  the  accessories  of  wealth  or  social  position, 
could,  by  his  own  worth,  come  to  be  ranked  among  the 
rulers  of  the  world. 

Those  who  were  of  his  immediate  party  fully  real- 
ized how  much  of  the  pleasure  of  the  trip  came  to  him 
through  such  informal  meetings  with  the  common  people 
as  could  be  arranged,  and  how  irksome  to  him  were 
many  of  the  more  formal  functions  of  society;  but 
wherever  he  went  he  was  master  of  himself  and  equal 
to  the  occasion.  American  newspapers,  regardless  of 
personal  feelings  and  prejudices,  recorded  the  events  of 
his  journey  with  pride. 

Grant's  itinerary  took  him  to  the  principal  cities 
of  the  British  Isles,  the  Continent,  Egypt,  Palestine, 
Siam,  Burmah,  India,  China,  and  Japan.  Each  in  its 
peculiar  way  did  him  honor. 

While  visiting  Milan,  in  the  spring  of  1878,  Grant 
was  invited  to  review  the  flower  of  Italy's  army — the 
pride  of  all,  the  flying  Bersaglieri.  The  officers  bril- 
liantly uniformed,  the  horses  finely  decorated  and 


364  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

grandly  caparisoned,  and  the  immense  crowd  gathered 
to  witness  the  scene,  made  the  spectacular  affair  one  of 
peculiar  interest.  Another  marked  feature  immediately 
preceding  the  review,  was  furnished  by  three  grooms 
who  were  using  all  their  strength  to  restrain  a  beautiful 
high-spirited,  plunging  horse.  A  partial  description  of 
the  review  is  taken  from  an  article  written  for  a  maga- 
zine by  Captain  Alfred  M.  Fuller,  Second  United 
States  Cavalry. 

"Presently  Grant  appeared  from  the  hotel — a 
stranger  to  the  Italian  officers,  and  a  surprise  to  them 
because  of  his  modest  manner  and  plainness  of  dress. 
After  being  presented  to  the  officers,  an  escort  led  the 
General  to  the  restless  horse,  which  the  three  stalwart 
grooms  had  found  such  difficulty  in  managing.  It  was 
the  horse  Grant  was  to  ride  in  reviewing  the  flower  of 
the  Italian  army !  He  looked  with  admiration  on  this 
restless  animal  which  had  never  been  ridden.  Suffer- 
ing from  a  severe  stiffness  in  the  right  leg,  Grant  was 
assisted  on  to  the  saddle  by  two  officers  while  the  three 
grooms  held  the  horse.  So  soon  as  he  touched  the 
seat,  however,  he  grasped  the  reins,  his  form  straight- 
ened, and  the  change  in  his  appearance  immediately 
so  impressed  those  around  with  his  thorough  horseman- 
ship, that  spontaneously  a  shout  of  applause  went  up 
from  the  crowd.  The  horse,  after  a  few  futile  plunges, 
discovered  that  he  had  his  master,  and  started  off  in  a 
gentle  trot.  From  that  time  on,  horse  and  rider  were 
as  one  being.  For  two  hours,  most  of  the  time  with  his 


THE  TRIP  AROUND   THE  WORLD  365 

horse  at  a  gallop,  Grant  kept  both  mounted  and  foot 
troops  on  the  move.  .  .  .  Murmurs  of  wonder  and 
admiration  came  from  his  escort,  on  their  return. 
They  themselves  looked  much  fatigued,  but  the  General 
appeared  as  calm  and  unruffled  as  if  he  had  been  seated 
in  a  rocking-chair." 

From  Mr.  Young's  journal  and  from  the  chronicles 
of  the  daily  press  a  very  interesting  study  of  social  life 
may  be  made.  There  were  occasional  complications  re- 
quiring in  their  settlement  tact  and  diplomacy,  as  in 
France,  where  Grant  had  incurred  the  displeasure  of 
many  of  the  people  by  his  attitude  in  the  Franco- 
Prussian  war ;  but  difficulties  were  adjusted  and  he  was 
most  cordially  received  by  President  McMahon,  and 
spent  several  weeks  in  Paris.  Berlin  interested  Grant 
more  than  any  other  city  in  the  Old  World  except 
London.  Because  of  a  recent  attempt  on  the  life  of  the 
Emperor  he  was  in  retirement,  and  the  most  notable 
person  whom  Grant  met  was  Bismarck,  who  paid  him 
every  attention,  entertaining  him  at  his  own  home. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  some  of  Grant's  impressions 
of  Rome  and  Venice.  Pictures  and  statuary  did  not 
interest  him.  He  liked  the  cathedrals,  the  public  build- 
ings, and  the  castles,  but  most  of  all  he  wanted  to  see 
the  people  at  their  work.  At  St.  Petersburg  the 
General's  party  was  met  by  the  emperor's  aide-de-camp, 
and  the  following  day  Grant  met  his  Imperial  Highness, 
Alexander.  Some  apprehension  had  been  felt  over  this 
visit,  and  Grant  had  been  advised  against  going  to 


366  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

Russia,  because  of  the  unpleasant  circumstances  con- 
nected with  the  Russian  minister  in  Washington  at  the 
time  of  the  visit  of  Prince  Alexis  to  the  United  States 
in  1872 ;  but  the  General  was  received  with  the  utmost 
cordiality  by  the  Czar. 

In  Spain  the  General  was  received  as  a  great  com- 
mander. The  one  great  pleasure  of  this  visit  was  the 
meeting  with  Seiior  Castelar,  the  ex-President  of  Spain, 
the  one  man  in  the  country  whom  Grant  really  desired 
to  see.  In  Portugal  the  King  desired  to  present  Grant 
with  the  grand  cross  of  the  Tower  and  Sword,  but  the 
General  refused,  considering  himself  debarred  from 
its  acceptance  by  the  law  concerning  the  receiving 
of  decorations  from  foreign  countries. 

The  trip  to  India  was  preceded  by  a  return  to  Lon- 
don and  a  visit  to  Ireland.  The  city  of  Dublin  received 
him  most  enthusiastically  and  presented  him  with  the 
freedom  of  the  city.  He  replied,  "I  am  by  birth  a 
citizen  of  a  country  where  there  are  more  Irishmen, 
either  native  born  or  the  descendants  of  Irishmen,  than 
there  are  in  all  Ireland.  I  have  therefore,  had  the 
honor  and  the  pleasure  of  representing  more  Irishmen 
and  their  descendants  than  the  Queen  of  England." 
It  had  required  not  a  little  ability,  tact,  and  savoir 
faire  to  respond  fittingly  to  the  many  greetings  at  the 
public  gatherings  and  to  meet  graciously  the  many 
types  of  men  that  crowded  around  him,  but  each  day 
had  added  to  the  fame  of  Grant  and  increased  his  pres- 
tige. Especially  was  this  true  in  the  East.  By  tempera- 


THE  TRIP  AROUND  THE  WORLD  367 

ment  and  training  Grant  had  that  poise  of  mind,  that 
clearness  of  judgment,  that  quiet  intentness  of  purpose 
that  appealed  to  these  more  reserved  peoples,  and  they 
welcomed  him  as  a  friend.  Of  his  reception  in  China 
he  writes :  "My  reception  by  the  civil  military  authori- 
ties of  China  was  the  most  cordial  ever  extended  to  any 
foreigner,  no  matter  what  his  rank.  The  fact  is,  the 
Chinese  like  America  better,  or,  rather,  hate  it  less,  than 
any  other  foreigners.  The  reason  is  palpable;  we  are 
the  only  power  that  recognizes  their  right  to  control 
their  own  domestic  affairs."  Of  Hong  Kong  he  says: 
"This  is  really  the  most  beautiful  place  I  have  yet  seen 
in  the  East.  The  city  is  admirably  built,  and  the 
scenery  most  picturesque." 

Japan  impressed  him  very  deeply  and  he  speaks  of 
his  reception  there  as  exceeding  anything  preceding  it, 
and  further  he  says  that  Japan  is  beautiful  beyond  de- 
scription, and  the  people  most  interesting;  expresses 
wonder  at  the  marvellous  evidences  of  progress  and 
clearly  discerns  that  the  nation  was  coming  to  a  con- 
sciousness of  its  strength. 

At  Japan  Grant's  journey  through  every  foreign 
land  had  come  to  an  end.  On  the  3rd  of  September, 
1879,  he  and  his  party  embarked  on  the  City  of  Toikio, 
at  Yokohama,  for  San  Francisco.  The  Grant  who  de- 
parted from  San  Francisco  in  1854  and  the  Grant  who 
returned  to  the  same  city  in  1879,  form  perhaps  the 
greatest  contrast  known  in  human  history.  The  sight- 
ing of  the  Tokio  on  the  20th  of  September  was  the  sig- 


368  ORANT,  THE  MAN  OF  HISTORY 

nal  of  a  marvellous  demonstration.  The  pealing  of 
bells,  the  booming  of  cannon  from  the  forts,  and  the 
steaming  down  the  harbor  of  hundreds  of  gaily  deco- 
rated vessels  bearing  thousands  of  guests  who  sent  up  a 
rapturous  cheering,  can  give  only  a  faint  idea  of  the  joy 
and  enthusiasm  of  the  occasion. 

The  sun  had  set  below  the  waters  of  the  sea  when  the 
General  was  escorted  to  the  Palace  Hotel.  The  pro- 
cession was  one  of  the  grandest  ever  seen  in  San  Fran- 
cisco. Although  night  had  come  on,  the  streets  had  the 
appearance  of  meridian  splendor.  The  receptions  and 
other  honors  given  to  the  General  were  continued  for 
several  days.  The  city  could  do  no  more  to  honor  its 
guest,  and  very  few  in  any  land  could  have  done  as 
much.  Practically  he  had  seen  all  the  world,  but  there 
was  one  spot  which  this  man  of  splendid  achievements 
and  of  simple  manners  desired  to  visit  before  leaving  the 
Pacific  Coast.  He  accepted  the  invitation  to  make  a 
brief  stay  at  Vancouver,  Oregon,  where  the  Fourth 
Infantry,  of  which  he  was  quartermaster,  had  been 
located  in  1853.  He  was  delighted  with  the  visit,  and 
on  the  14th  of  October,  1879,  standing  on  the  very  spot 
where  the  old  barrack  had  been  located,  he  made  an  ad- 
dress of  two  hundred  words  in  response  to  the  soul- 
stirring  welcome  of  the  citizens. 

While  journeying  homeward  the  train  made  many 
short  stops  that  the  people  might  see  and  cheer  the 
General,  and  Chicago  was  reached  in  time  that  he  might 
attend  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennes- 


THE  TRIP  AROUND  THE  WORLD  369 

see,  November  12th  and  13th.  Preparations  had  been 
made  for  his  reception.  Like  all  other  receptions  given 
him,  no  matter  on  what  continent,  it  was  nonpartisan. 
The  city  was  elaborately  decorated  with  banners  and 
flags,  and  thousands  upon  thousands  of  people  occupied 
windows,  stands,  and  side-walks  to  catch  a  glimpse  of 
the  man  whom  republics,  kingdoms,  and  empires  had 
delighted  to  honor. 

Grant  reached  Philadelphia  December  12th,  1879, 
thus  ending  his  journey  around  the  globe  in  two  years, 
six  months,  and  twelve  days.  It  was  a  remarkable  tour. 
The  fame  of  his  romantic  and  singularly  successful 
career  as  a  soldier  had  preceded  him  into  all  countries, 
and  great  curiosity  to  see  him  existed  everywhere.  As 
an  ex-President  of  the  United  States  he  was  received 
with  distinguished  honors,  official  and  social,  in  every 
country  which  he  visited  in  Europe  and  Asia.  Cities 
presented  him  with  addresses  and  officially  offered  him 
their  freedom;  and  great  throngs  of  people  attended 
these  ceremonies,  curious  to  see  the  great  American 
commander.  It  was  because  of  such  occasions,  and 
these  and  other  public  receptions,  that  he  saw  more  peo- 
ple "from  kings  down  to  lackeys  and  slaves  than  any- 
body who  ever  journeyed  on  this  earth  before." 

All  in  all,  Grant's  tour  around  the  world  surpassed, 
in  many  unusual  features,  any  triumphal  tour,  how- 
ever magnificent,  ever  made  by  any  other  man  in  the 
entire  history  of  the  human  race. 


XL. 

GRANTS  LAST  AND  GREATEST  VICTORY. 

HEN  Grant  finished  his  world's  tour  he  was 
nearing  his  fifty-eighth  year.  The  most  ex- 
alted military  and  political  positions  had 
been  bestowed  upon  him  by  his  own  coun- 
try, and  sovereigns  and  statesmen  of  Europe  and  Asia 
had  received  him  with  the  highest  honors.  The  world 
could  give  nothing  more  that  would  add  to  his  fame. 
He  had  reached  the  summit  of  human  distinction. 

The  General  had  been  in  his  homeland  but  a  few 
weeks  before  he  gratified  a  cherished  desire  to  visit  Cuba 
and  Mexico,  which  was  done  in  the  winter  of  1879-80, 
and  everywhere  in  his  journey  he  was  welcomed  with 
extraordinary  demonstrations.  He  had  seen  all  the 
world  as  the  saying  goes,  and  afterwards  was  glad  to 
visit  Galena,  where  he  could  have  the  companionship  of 
his  old  friends  and  enjoy  a  season  of  rest. 

Early  in  1880  a  quiet  movement  was  begun  to  make 
Grant  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency.  It  was  thought 


GRANT'S  LAST  AND  GREATEST  VICTORY  371 

by  those  who  were  persistent  in  favoring  the  third-term 
idea,  that  his  remarkable  tour  of  the  world  would  give 
him  a  prestige  that  would  lead  to  victory  in  the  con- 
vention which  was  to  meet  in  Chicago  in  June.  That 
astute  politician  and  powerful  leader  of  men,  Roscoe 
Conkling,  was  a  prime  factor  in  the  movement.  At- 
tempts were  made  to  draw  the  General  into  active  can- 
vass, but  his  good  sense  and  firmness  prevailed.  He 
was  never  actuated  by  improper  ambition.  When  his 
friends  and  supporters  tried  to  get  him  to  commit  him- 
self to  the  movement,  he  went  only  so  far  as  to  say  that 
he  would  "neither  accept  nor  decline  an  imaginary 
thing."  But  when  he  was  pressed  hard  to  give  a  defi- 
nite answer,  he  said: 

"I  owe  so  much  to  the  Union  men  of  the  country 
that  if  they  think  my  chances  are  better  for  election 
than  those  of  other  probable  candidates,  I  cannot  decline 
if  the  nomination  is  tendered  without  seeking  on  my 
part." 

When  his  name  was  presented  by  Roscoe  Conkling,  it 
was  followed  by  one  of  the  wildest  scenes  ever  enacted 
in  a  national  convention.  There  was  a  traditional  senti- 
ment against  a  third  term,  and  although  a  majority  of 
the  convention  were  the  General's  warmest  friends,  they 
could  not  consistently  vote  for  his  renomination.  The 
contest  was  long,  bitter,  and  full  of  excitement.  His  vote 
never  fell  below  302  and  never  exceeded  313.  For 
nearly  thirty-six  ballots  his  vote  was  306 ;  but  defeat 
came  at  last,  and  James  A.  Garfield  was  nominated.  As 


372  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

a  memorial  of  the  loyalty  of  those  who  were  pledged  to 
vote  for  Grant  from  the  beginning  to  the  end,  an 
iron  medal  was  struck  and  given  to  each  of  the  faith- 
ful 306.  Grant  was  not  disappointed  over  his  failure 
in  the  convention.  His  most  cordial  support  of  Garfield 
was  the  characteristic  generosity  of  a  great  man. 

After  the  expiration  of  Grant's  second  term  as 
President,  he  had  no  place  which  he  could  regard  as  a 
permanent  home.  While  he  owned  a  house  in  Galena — 
the  gift  of  friends — he  could  not  decide  to  spend  his  re- 
maining years  in  the  little  western  town  which  his  name 
had  made  famous,  neither  could  he  conclude  to  occupy 
the  beautiful  residence  given  him  by  the  Union  League 
of  Philadelphia.  Through  the  munificence  of  his  pat- 
riotic friends,  Grant  had  received  much  in  money  and 
houses ;  but  on  his  return  from  his  tour  abroad  he  was 
not  a  man  of  large  means.  The  spirit  of  independence 
was  bred  in  Grant,  and  when  it  was  proposed  that 
he  and  his  family  should  tour  the  world  it  was  his  pur- 
pose to  pay  the  expense  himself,  which  amounted  to  up- 
wards of  $25,000.  While  the  General  cared  little  for 
money  and  knew  nothing  of  the  art  of  making  it,  he 
realized  that  something  more  than  the  ordinary  income 
from  any  investments  he  could  make  would  be  necessary 
properly  to  support  his  family. 

For  a  man  of  his  temperament,  love  of  sociability, 
and  business  activity,  Grant  believed  that  New  York 
was  the  better  place  in  which  to  establish  a  permanent 
home ;  and  besides  this,  he  was  firmly  of  the  opinion 


GRANT'S  LAST  AND  GREATEST  VICTORY  373 

that  the  city  offered  him  a  more  favorable  opportunity 
to  invest  wisely  his  little  fortune.  Therefore,  in  Au- 
gust, 1881,  he  bought  a  house  near  Central  Park,  and 
became  a  citizen  of  New  York.  It  was  about  this  time 
that  several  of  his  friends  in  New  York  raised  a  trust 
fund  of  $250,000,  the  interest  on  which  should  go  to 
Mrs.  Grant. 

Grant's  love  for  his  family  was  one  of  the  strongest 
and  most  attractive  traits  of  his  character.  He  never 
failed  to  appreciate  the  worth  of  his  mother's  love, 
patience,  and  wisdom  during  his  early  years  at  George- 
town. When  she  died  in  1883  at  Jersey  City  Heights, 
New  Jersey,  the  General,  when  at  the  funeral,  said  to 
Dr.  Howard  Henderson,  her  pastor:  "In  the  remarks 
which  you  make,  speak  of  her  only  as  a  pure-minded, 
simple-hearted,  earnest,  Methodist  Christian.  Make  no 
reference  to  me ;  she  gained  nothing  by  any  position  I 
have  filled  or  honors  that  may  have  been  paid  me.  I 
owe  all  this  and  all  I  am  to  her  earnest,  modest,  and 
sincere  piety." 

Schiller  says:  "Disappointments  are  to  the  soul 
what  a  thunder-storm  is  to  the  air."  Grant's  removal 
to  New  York  was  the  beginning  of  the  end.  Had  it  not 
been  for  his  misfortunes,  we  would  never  have  known 
the  entire  greatness  of  his  character.  As  I  have  said  on 
a  previous  page,  Grant  greatly  desired  to  live  a  life  of 
business  activity  in  the  city.  To  manage  his  financial 
affairs  so  that  his  income  would  meet  the  demands  of 
the  household,  was  a  necessity.  Colonel  William  Con- 


374  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

ant  Church  says :  "No  one  could  flatter  Grant  by  calling 
him  a  great  soldier  ....  but  when  a  Wall  street 
sharper  sought  to  persuade  him  that  he  and  his  sons 
were  great  financiers,  or  at  least  that  his  sons  were,  he 
found  a  listening  ear."  It  was  not  difficult,  therefore, 
to  induce  the  General  to  become  a  special  partner  in 
the  banking  firm  of  Grant  &  Ward,  and  all  his  property, 
accumulated  since  the  war,  was  invested  in  the  bank, 
the  management  of  the  institution  being  almost  com- 
pletely in  the  hands  of  Ward. 

Everything  went  on  pleasantly  and  successfully 
with  Grant  in  his  life  in  New  York,  until  Christmas 
Eve,  1883.  He  had  been  visiting  some  friends,  and  in 
stepping  from  the  cab  at  his  residence  he  slipped  on  the 
ice  and  sustained  a  severe  injury  of  the  thigh  which 
caused  him  intense  pain.  The  same  heroic  patience 
with  which  he  combated  the  painfulness  of  a  sprained 
ankle  in  the  stormy  Sunday  night  at  Shiloh,  and  the 
severity  of  the  injury  he  received  in  being  thrown  from 
his  horse  in  New  Orleans  shortly  after  the  fall  of  Vicks- 
burg,  was  manifest  in  the  accident  in  New  York.  His 
distress  and  lameness  were  long  continued,  and  while 
he  was  able  to  travel  a  little  some  weeks  afterwards,  his 
usual  bodily  activity  was  greatly  impaired. 

Another  and  still  greater  misfortune  quickly  over- 
took the  General.  In  May,  1884,  while  he  was  yet  a 
sufferer  from  the  injury  of  the  thigh,  he  learned  that 
through  the  unblushing  frauds  of  Ward  the  firm  of 
Grant  &  Ward  was  on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy.  At  the 


GRANT'S  LAST  AND  GREATEST  VICTORY  375 

suggestion  of  the  junior  member  of  the  firm,  Grant  was 
induced  to  apply  to  William  H.  Vanderbilt  for  a  tem- 
porary loan  of  $100,000  to  save  the  institution  from  ab- 
solute ruin.  Mr.  Vanderbilt,  being  an  intimate  friend 
of  Grant,  promptly  gave  him  a  check  for  the  amount 
wanted.  But  matters  grew  worse,  and  in  a  few  days 
the  firm  with  which  the  name  Grant  was  connected,  was 
hopelessly  wrecked. 

Any  effort  to  describe  Grant's  disappointment  at 
this  time  would  be  feeble  indeed.  It  was  the  hardest 
shock  to  his  sensibilities  he  had  ever  received.  That 
the  name  of  Grant  should  be  associated  with  the  frauds 
by  which  the  bank  went  down  in  the  vortex  of  destruc- 
tion, almost  "cost  him  his  grip  on  life."  Everything 
was  gone,  even  the  gift  of  $250,000  to  Mrs.  Grant. 
But  there  were  two  elements  in  Grant's  nature — courage 
and  integrity — which  no  financial  disaster  could  de- 
stroy. Speaking  of  these  dark  days  in  the  General's 
life  a  writer  in  the  Macmillan  says:  "Here  we  see  an 
intrepid  soul  which  refused  to  be  crushed  even  when  all 
of  his  little  world  stood  around  him  in  ruins."  And  in 
the  North  American  Review  are  found  three  sentences 
worth  quoting:  "Neither  responsibility,  nor  turmoil, 
nor  danger,  nor  pleasure,  nor  pain,  impaired  the  force 

of  his  resolution What  did  the  obligations, 

the  temptations,  the  sorrows,  the  struggles  of  life  make 
of  this  man  ?  One  of  the  truest,  bravest,  strongest  hu- 
man entities  the  world  has  ever  produced." 

When  all  his  investments  were  lost  he  went  to  Van- 


376  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

derbilt  and  deposited  with  him  as  security  for  the  loan 
of  $100,000,  the  entire  collection  of  gold-hilted  swords, 
gold-headed  canes,  medals  of  rare  value,  costly  paint- 
ings, especially  prepared  documents,  and  many  other 
tokens  of  friendship  presented  to  him  by  the  different 
cities,  governments,  and  nations  of  the  wide  world. 
But  Mr.  Vanderbilt  did  not  hold  this  priceless  collec- 
tion as  security.  He  soon  afterwards  returned  them  to 
Mrs.  Grant,  and  ultimately  they  were  deposited  in  the 
National  Museum  at  Washington. 

In  June,  1884,  broken  in  fortune  and  in  health,  he 
took  up  the  battle  for  bread.  When  the  Century  Com- 
pany repeated  an  invitation,  which  he  had  once  de- 
clined, to  write  a  magazine  article  on  Shiloh,  he  con- 
sented, and  entered  upon  a  new  kind  of  work  with 
great  ardor.  He  was  teaching  the  world  that  the  pen 
was  mightier  than  the  sword.  So  satisfactory  was  the 
result  that  he  was  asked  to  continue  and  describe  the 
capture  of  Vicksburg.  Then  at  the  solicitation  of  pub- 
lishers he  set  about  writing  the  story  of  his  life ;  and 
turning  his  back  upon  the  business  and  political  world, 
he  addressed  himself  to  his  task,  in  which  he  found  so- 
lace for  his  woes,  the  promise  of  competency  for  his  old 
age,  and  support  for  his  wife  should  she  outlive  him. 

In  the  autumn  of  1884  he  complained  of  pain  in  his 
throat,  and  difficulty  in  swallowing.  These  steadily  in- 
creased and  greatly  interfered  with  his  work.  After  a 
time  he  found  it  impossible  to  take  solid  food,  and 
gradually  grew  weaker  until  he  was  confined  to  his 


GRANT'S  LAST  AND  GREATEST  VICTORY  377 

house.  His  friends  in  Congress,  after  one  failure,  suc- 
ceeded in  March,  1885,  in  passing  a  bill  restoring  him 
to  his  rank  of  General  in  the  Army,  with  full  pay,  but 
it  was  too  late  to  awaken  interest  or  give  pleasure,  ex- 
cept as  the  money  would  be  of  service  to  those  he  loved. 
He  was  face  to  face  with  a  relentless  foe  and  all  his 
mighty  energies  were  absorbed  in  the  contest.  For  a 
time  he  lost  interest  in  his  book.  One  volume  was  fin- 
ished, and  the  second  begun.  On  the  10th  of  March 
an  examination  of  tissue  was  made,  revealing  cancer  of 
the  throat.  As  the  word  was  flashed  around  the  world, 
the  tide  of  appreciation  and  sympathy,  which  had  ebbed 
during  his  misfortunes,  returned  in  a  mighty  flood.  All 
criticisms  were  forgotten,  and  prayers  were  offered 
throughout  the  land  for  his  recovery.  The  first  crisis 
in  the  great  struggle  came  on  April  5th.  So  apprehen- 
sive were  his  physicians  that  they  did  not  leave  the 
house.  In  the  early  morning  they  were  summoned,  and 
to  all  appearances  their  distinguished  patient  had  come 
to  his  last  hour.  Dr.  Newman,  his  pastor,  was  sum- 
moned and  administered  baptism.  His  physicians  gave 
him  a  hypodermic  treatment  and  he  soon  showed  marked 
signs  of  improvement.  A  little  later  he  expressed  a 
new  interest  in  life,  and  said :  "I  want  to  live  to  finish 
my  book." 

His  improvement  was  now  rapid  and  marvellous, 
and  with  his  new  lease  of  life  came  the  determination 
to  complete  his  great  task.  In  commenting  upon  his  re- 
turn of  courage,  Dr.  George  F.  Shrady,  the  chief  of  his 


378  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

medical  advisers,  says :  "He  resolved  to  face  the  enemy, 
trusting  to  adapt  himself  to  new  conditions.  It  was 
this  discipline  that  was  necessary  to  the  few  working 
days  left  to  him.  The  only  relief  in  the  situation  was 
to  make  the  most  of  the  remaining  opportunity  and 
stubbornly  persist  to  the  end.  He  admitted  the  fact  and 
bravely  trudged  along  under  marching  orders." 

On  his  last  Easter  vast  crowds  gathered  in  front  of 
the  house,  and  merely  by  their  silent  presence,  showed 
their  interest  and  sympathy.  He  dictated  a  message  to 
the  American  people,  expressing  his  gratitude  and  clos- 
ing with  the  words:  "I  desire  the  good  will  of  all, 
whether  heretofore  friends  or  not."  That  desire  was 
answered  to  the  full,  and  even  Jefferson  Davis  sent  a 
message  of  condolence.  As  the  warm  weather  came  on, 
a  change  was  necessary,  and  his  friend,  James  W. 
Drexel,  placed  his  cottage  on  Mount  McGregor  at  the 
General's  service.  On  June  16th  he  left  the  city,  took 
the  train  up  the  Hudson,  looked  for  the  last  time  at 
West  Point  as  he  swiftly  passed  and  recalled  the  day 
when,  as  a  youth  of  seventeen,  he  first  beheld  it.  In  due 
time  he  reached  Mount  McGregor  and  found  a  little 
comfort  in  the  clear,  fresh  air  and  the  fine  views.  But 
his  enemy  gave  him  no  rest  and  the  great  battle  went 
on  without  a  moment's  cessation.  Two  days  after  his 
arrival  at  the  cottage  he  wrote  on  a  card  these  pathetic 
words:  "It  is  just  a  week  to-day  since  I  have  spoken. 
My  pain  is  continuous."  But  this  did  not  cause  his  pen 
to  lag.  It  is  said  that  he  composed  more  matter  in  the 


GRANT'S  LAST  A2VD  GREATEST  VICTORY          379 

eight  weeks  following  the  first  of  May,  1885,  than  in 
any  other  eight  weeks  of  his  life.  During  the  two 
months  prior  to  his  death  he  wrote  fifty  pages  of  the 
book  in  as  many  days.  On  the  first  of  July,  he  worked 
continuously  four  hours,  and  on  the  second,  three  hours. 
At  last  the  great  task  was  completed.  The  battle  was 
won.  The  mighty  spirit  had  held  the  dying  body  in 
control  until  he  had  concluded  his  story  and  provided 
for  the  future  of  those  he  loved  better  than  life.  There 
was  nothing  now  but  to  give  a  few  last  messages  to  those 
who  called,  and  through  them  to  the  world.  A  company 
of  Mexican  journalists  who  came  to  pay  their  respects 
was  cordially  received,  and  even  though  he  could  not 
make  a  whisper,  he  wrote  a  message  full  of  wisdom  and 
promise  for  their  country.  He  was  greatly  cheered  by 
a  visit  from  General  Simon  B.  Buckner,  his  antagonist 
at  Donelson.  After  a  hearty  greeting  from  his  visitor, 
Grant  wrote :  "I  appreciate  your  calling  highly.  I  have 
witnessed  since  my  illness  just  what  I  have  wished  to 
see  since  the  war;  harmony  and  good  will  between  the 
sections.  We  now  look  forward  to  a  perpetual  peace  at 
home  and  a  national  strength  which  will  secure  us 
against  any  foreign  complications."  As  the  days  passed 
on  he  grew  steadily  weaker,  and  in  the  early  morning 
of  July  23rd,  1885,  surrounded  by  his  family  and  his 
faithful  physicians,  the  great  commander  quietly 
breathed  his  last. 

Such  a  funeral  as  America  had  never  seen — unless 
we  except  Lincoln's — was  accorded  to  this  quiet  man 


380  GRANT,  THE  MAN  OF  MYSTERY 

who  cared  so  little  for  display.  At  the  central  scene  the 
body  was  accompanied  to  its  last  resting  place  by  a  roll 
of  drums,  the  thunder  of  guns,  and  the  tramp  of  march- 
ing hosts,  while  North  and  South  clasped  hands  over  the 
precious  dust.  Throughout  the  land,  over  town  and 
country-side,  the  people  gathered  to  express  their  grati- 
tude, honor,  and  affection  for  the  great  warrior  who, 
more  than  any  other,  had  secured  to  this  nation  the  in- 
comparable gift  of  peace. 

Thus  we  have  followed  through  all  the  varied  phases 
of  his  wonderful  life,  Grant,  the  Man  of  Mystery.  We 
have  watched  the  quiet,  humble,  unpromising  citizen  of 
Galena,  as  he  emerged  from  obscurity  at  the  call  of  his 
country,  in  a  few  months  to  become,  through  a  succession 
of  marvellous  achievements,  the  greatest  military  chief- 
tain of  his  day,  to  command  all  the  armies  of  the  United 
States  and  be  entrusted  with  the  gigantic  task  of  sub- 
duing the  greatest  of  rebellions  led  by  the  most  gifted 
of  commanders.  We  have  seen  him  for  eight  years  at 
the  head  of  a  nation,  during  the  trying  period  of  recon- 
struction, after  the  awful  devastation  of  four  years  of 
internecine  strife.  We  have  followed  him  in  his  un- 
paralleled journey  around  the  world,  which,  begun  as 
the  quiet  holiday  of  a  private  citizen,  was  turned  into 
the  triumphal  march  of  a  conqueror,  as  he  was  greeted 
and  honored  by  princes,  statesmen,  and  peoples  of  the 
realms  through  which  he  passed.  We  have  seen  him  go 
down  into  his  valley  of  humiliation,  stripped  of  his 
property,  deserted  by  many  who  fawned  upon  him  in 


GRANT'S  LAST  AND  GREATEST   VICTORY  381 

prosperity,  jeered  at  by  his  enemies,  temporarily  forgot- 
ten by  the  people  he  had  served,  and  at  last  smitten  by  a 
terrible  and  incurable  malady.  We  have  seen  him 
emerge,  bearing  the  marks  of  his  suffering,  and  exchang- 
ing sword  for  pen,  hold  his  great  enemy  at  bay  while  he 
wrote  the  story  of  his  wonderful  achievements,  the 
world  looking  on  in  astonishment  and  sympathy.  When 
the  task  was  finished,  he  laid  down  his  pen,  and  the  in- 
vincible spirit  went  forth  to  join  the  company  of  the 
immortals  who  before  him  had  fought  the  good  fight 
and  kept  the  faith. 

Over  his  mortal  remains  has  been  erected  the  most  im- 
posing memorial  structure  on  the  Western  Continent. 
His  name  and  memory  will  be  enshrined  in  the  hearts 
of  his  grateful  countrymen  while  the  Republic  shall  en- 
dure. We  may  well  say  of  him  as  Milton  said  of 
Shakespeare : 

"And,  so  sepulchred,  in  such  pomp  doth  lie, 
That  kings  for  such  a  tomb  might  wish  to  die." 


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